':Jl;HCJKiC]r:l;::L^^  „ 

:iiiii  ii    1 1    111  r  :  -  -  ^     m  ii  0  '  ' 

.       •  •     . .    '  * '    ..    ■  • "  Jj  1 

MMJRICE  =  HEWLETT 


i  H 


/ 


THORGILS 


THORGILS 


BY 

MAURICE  HEWLETT 

Author  of  **  The  Forest  Lovers,"  **  The  Life  and  Death 
of  Richard  Yea  and  Nay,"  *'  Love  and  Lucy,"  etc. 


NEW  YORK 

DODD,  MEAD  AND  COMPANY 

1917 


CoPTnisHT,  1917 
Bt  DODD,  mead  and  company,  Inc. 


CONTENTS 

CHAPTEB 

PAOS 

I 

The  Killing  of  the  Horse  . 

1 

II 

The  Driving  op  the  Thralls     . 

13 

III 

The  Sword  Called  Blade    . 

22 

IV 

Earth-house-prey 

32 

V 

Thorey  and  Gudrun     .       .       .       . 

39 

VI 

Gudrun's  Affair    .... 

48 

VII 

Thorsdoom 

59 

VIII 

The  Call  from  Eric  the  Red  . 

67 

IX 

Trouble  at  Sea     .... 

74 

X 

The  First  Winter 

83 

XI 

The  Heaviest  Stroke  . 

93 

XII 

The  Islands 

.       104 

XIII 

The  Boat  Comes  Back  . 

.       115 

XIV 

A  Welcome  from  the  Mainland 

.        122 

XV 

They  Find  Eric  the  Red  . 

.        129 

XVI 

Col  Involved  Again 

.        139 

XVII 

The  End  of  the  Thralls  . 

145 

XVIII 

Harrowing  of  the  Sea 

.        151 

XIX 

Treadholt  Again    .... 

158 

XX 

Helga,  Thorord's  Daughter 

168 

XXI 

Reckonings  with  Asgrim    . 

.       179 

XXII 

AsGRiM^s  Money     .... 

189 

XXIII 

The  Last  Battle  .... 

195 

XXIV 

The  Last  Thorgilism  . 

.       202 

*y  r:(\*}   ,  .. 


THORGILS 


THORGILS 

CHAPTER  I 

THE   KILLING   OF   THE    HORSE 

TREADHOLT  lies  in  the  South-west  coun- 
try between  Markfleet  and  Cogsound.  It 
is  all  pasture  thereabouts,  deep  and  good 
land ;  but  behind  that,  the  tumble  of  rock  begins, 
great  rocks  brought  down  from  Eyjafell  in  old 
days ;  and  after  them  the  heather  and  peat  hags 
mount  upwards  to  the  fells;  and  over  the  top 
of  the  fells  are  waste  and  desolate  places,  rent 
apart  by  crevasses  and  deep  ghylls ;  and  if  you 
have  heart  enough  to  carry  you  on,  beyond  this 
region  lie  the  snowslopes  which  will  take  you 
to  the  top  of  Eyjafell  itself. 

But  all  that  was  a  long  way  from  Treadholt 
where  Thord  Domne,  or  Timber  Thord,  as  we 
should  say,  lived,  and  where  Thorgils  and  his 
brother  were  born. 

1 


2  TIIOEGILS 

Timber  Thord  had  been  a  strong  and  bold 
man,  who  became  a  famous  man  by  the  slaying 
of  Eaven  Thorwidsson.    He  had  had  an  old 
quarrel  with  Raven,  who  was  reckoned  a  hero 
in  those  parts,  and  laid  in  wait  for  him  one  day 
as  he  was  riding  down  to  Einarshaven,  to  a  ship 
he  had  there.    He  came  riding  through  the 
howes  in  his  fine  blue  cloak,  thinking  of  pleasant 
things,  when  he  saw  Timber  Thord  standing 
between  two  howes,  waiting  for  him.   Eaven 
hailed  him,  but  Thord  would  not  return  the 
greeting;  but  instead  hurled  his  spear  and  hit 
Raven  full  in  the  breast  and  transfixed  him.  The 
manslaughter  was  written  off  against  others 
done  by  Eaven— but  Thord 's  name  stood  high 
after  such  a  deed,  and  Thord  himself  married 
Thorwen,  who  was  Osgar's  daughter,  Osgar's 
the  Eastmen-Smiter,  and  settled  down  at  Tread- 
holt,  where  his  fathers  had  been  established  a 
long  time.    Thorwen  gave  him  two  sons,  Thor- 
gils  and  Thorleik.    All  their  names  were  of  this 
stamp,  for  this  was  in  the  days  before  Iceland 
was  christened,  and  Thor  had  the  devotion  of 
all  the  South  country,  rather  than  Frey,  who 
prevailed  in  the  North  and  North-west,  or  Odin, 
who  had  his  worship  elsewhere. 


THE  KILLING  OF  THE  HORSE        3 

When  Thorgils  was  a  bare-breeched  young- 
ster of  two-three  years  old,  a  blue-eyed,  red- 
cheeked,  tumble-haired,  bare-breeched  young- 
ster more  often  dirty  than  not.  Timber  Thord 
had  become  rich,  and  intended  to  become  richer. 
What  store  he  had  in  silver  money  and  goods 
he  buried  in  the  earth,  and  then  bought  a  ship 
in  Cogsound  and  prepared  for  a  voyage  to  Nor- 
way. He  wanted  Thorwen,  his  wife,  to  go  with 
him;  but  she  said.  No,  she  would  stay  at  home. 
There  were  the  children,  and  the  treasure  in 
the  ground.  So  she  looked  after  house  and  stock 
at  Treadholt,  as  well  she  might,  being  a  notable 
housewife ;  and  Thord  stood  out  to  sea  in  his 
new  ship. 

He  never  came  back.  All  the  summer  and 
winter  following  Thorwen  looked  for  him.  She 
got  into  the  way  of  crossing  the  river  at  the 
ford  and  mounting  the  peat  moss  to  a  ridge 
from  where  you  could  see  Cogsound,  and  be- 
yond that  to  Portland  Neb.  Somehow  or  an- 
other she  did  that  every  day ;  and  even  through 
the  winter  she  managed  to  get  up  there.  She 
took  Thorgils  with  her  when  it  was  possible. 
Then  the  weather  broke  up,  the  rain  came,  and 
the  days  grew  longer.    There  was  work  to  be 


4  THORGILS 

done  on  the  land ;  a  man  called  Thorgrim  Scar- 
leg  came  to  Treadliolt  as  reeve,  and  Thorwen 
gave  up  her  daily  walk  to  the  ridge. 

Thorgils  was  puzzled  at  that.  He  did  not 
see  why  she  left  off  doing  what  she  had  always 
done.  He  couldn^t  remember  when  she  had  not 
done  it.  *^ Aren't  you  going  to  look  for  my 
father's  shipT' 

She  shook  her  head. 

**  He  won't  come  any  more,"  she  said.  He 
thought  that  very  odd. 

**  Why  won't  he?  "  he  wanted  to  know. 

She  looked  out  over  the  sea.  **  He  is 
drowned,  my  son." 

**  Drowned?  "  said  Thorgils.  **  Do  you 
mean  he  is  dead?  " 

She  nodded  her  head  sharply,  and  that  set 
the  tears  running  down. 

**  Then,"  said  Thorgils,  **  I  am  master 
here."  He  was  nearly  four  years  old,  but 
Thorwen  turned  away  to  her  affairs,  and  left 
him  alone.  Thorgils  marched  off  to  the  ridge 
to  look  for  his  father,  but  the  river  was  swollen 
with  the  rain,  and  in  high  flood.  The  stones 
were  hidden,  and  he  did  not  like  the  look  of  it. 
He  remained  by  the  river  side  till  dinner-time, 


THE  KILLING  OF  THE  HORSE        5 

and  kept  to  himself.  He  saw  Thorgrim  the 
new  reeve  dunging  the  meadows,  but  did  not 
choose  to  go  to  him.  Thorgrim  was  a  red- 
faced,  silent  man,  good-tempered  enough;  but 
Thorgils  never  took  to  him. 

That  summer  Thorwen  and  Thorgrim  came 
to  an  understanding,  and  made  up  their  minds 
to  keep  house  together.  Great  trouble  came  of 
it  in  after  days  with  which  this  tale  has  nothing 
to  do ;  but  meantime  there  was  trouble  enough 
in  the  mind  of  Thorgils  when  he  understood 
what  was  in  the  wind.  From  the  very  first  he 
and  Thorgrim  did  not  get  on  together.  Thor- 
gils was  only  a  little  boy,  but  he  remembered 
his  father  and  did  not  believe  that  so  fine  and 
decisive  a  man  could  have  allowed  himself  to  be 
lost  at  sea.  Without  knowing  how  to  put  it  he 
had  a  grudge  against  his  mother — not  on  his 
own  account,  but  on  his  father's.  Much  more 
allowance  ought  to  have  been  made  for  him — 
for  such  a  man  as  that. 

He  said  nothing  more  about  being  master  at 
Treadholt.  Indeed  he  was  rather  ashamed  of 
himself  for  having  said  it.  Had  that  been  giv- 
ing his  father  a  chance?  No,  it  had  not.  But 
apart  from  that,  a  boy  always  knows  what  he 


6  THORGILS 

can  do  and  what  he  can't.  Thorgrim  took  his 
father's  place  at  board,  by  the  fire,  and  abed. 
The  steading,  the  stock,  the  thralls,  the  maids, 
the  fields,  all  fell  under  his  charge.  There  was 
no  use  in  fighting  against  it ;  and,  of  course,  as 
time  went  on,  he  grew  used  to  the  state  of 
things,  and  forgot  all  about  his  father.  The 
first  time  he  heard  himself  called  Scarleg's 
stepson  he  had  flamed  all  over  his  face;  the 
second  time  he  had  lost  his  temper  and  pushed 
in  among  the  girls  at  their  washing-tubs.  **  I  am 
Thordsson,  I  tell  you.  I  am — I  am.''  Some  of 
them  had  laughed  at  him,  but  one  had  taken 
him  in  her  arms  and  kissed  him.  *  *  Well  spoken, 
Thorgils,"  she  had  said.  He  had  fought 
to  get  away  from  her;  but  he  had  liked  her 
for  it  nevertheless.  Afterwards  the  new  name 
became  so  common  that  he  took  no  notice 
of  it,  and  once  he  found  himself  calling  him- 
self so. 

But  he  did  not  get  on  well  at  home  after 
Thorgrim  came,  and  wasn't  there  very  long. 
The  end  of  all  things  at  Treadholt  happened 
in  the  summer  when  he  was  five  years  old. 

It  was  after  the  hay  harvest,  when  there  is 
always  a  time  to  stretch  yourself  and  take  your 


THE  KILLING  OF  THE  HOESE        7 

ease — ^before  the  corn  harvest  begins.  One  day 
they  held  games  in  the  Templegarth  at  Tread- 
holt;  men  and  boys  from  all  the  countryside 
were  there.  Trestle  tables  were  set  out  and 
roofed  over  with  green  boughs.  The  women 
made  a  feast  and  served  the  tables ;  and  after 
the  feast  they  had  the  games.  The  men  had 
their  horse-fighting,  swimming-matches  and 
football.  The  boys  must  have  their  football 
too. 

Now  Thorgils,  who  was  very  strong  and 
active,  as  well  as  tall  for  his  years,  was  left  out 
of  the  picking-up,  and  clamoured  for  a  place. 
The  bigger  boys  scoffed  at  him  and  took  no 
more  notice;  but  one  of  them  who  had  a  kind 
face  put  a  hand  on  his  shoulder,  and  drew  him 
aside.  '*  You  see,  Thorgils,''  he  said,  **  it 
would  be  impossible  to  have  you  in  the  game. 
It  would  be  against  the  rules." 

**  What  rules  would  it  be  against!  "  Thor- 
gils always  went  to  the  point  of  a  thing. 

**  Well,''  said  the  other,  **  the  rule  is  that 
you  have  to  be  reckoned  good  of  your  hands. 
Now  each  of  us  has  killed  something  or  others — ■ 
some  very  large  things.  But  I'm  sure  that  you 
never  did." 


8  THORGILS 

Thorgils  was  mortified.  It  was  true,  lie  had 
never  killed  anything  bigger  than  a  fish — and 
that  hadn't  been  a  big  one.  *^  Once  I  helped 
hold  a  pig/^  he  said.  **  And  I  did  hold,  and 
wouldn't  let  go.'' 

The  boy  said,  that  wouldn't  do,  and  then,  be- 
ing called,  ran  off  to  the  field.  Thorgils  moped 
by  himself,  and  thought  of  his  father.  He 
wouldn't  go  into  the  company  again  for  the  rest 
of  the  day,  nor  near  the  house  until  they  had  all 
gone  home. 

That  night  he  made  up  his  mind  that  some- 
thing must  die,  and  that  he  must  kill  it.  He 
knew  that  it  must  be  so  directly  he  woke.  He 
lay  broad  awake  in  his  bed  and  looked  out  of 
the  window  at  the  moon.  It  was  a  three-quarter 
moon,  very  white  and  clear.  He  saw  the  face 
in  it  plainly,  and  read  it  as  a  sorrowful  face 
which  yet  saw  that  the  thing  must  be  done.  He 
waited  a  little  while  longer,  clasping  his  shins, 
and  wondering  what  it  was  that  he  was  going 
to  kill.  He  was  very  excited  about  it,  and 
rather  sorry  for  the  victim,  already  doomed,  out 
there  in  the  moonlight  with  all  the  other  beasts. 
He  thought  it  would  be  a  bullock.  Not  a  sheep 
certainly.    Nor  one  of  the  dogs.    Then,  all  of  a 


THE  KILLING  OF  THE  HORSE        9 

sudden,  he  thought  that  he  ought  to  kill  some- 
thing of  his  own;  and  then  he  thought  of  old 
Illing.  Illing  was  a  grey  pack-horse  which  he 
was  allowed  to  ride. 

That  being  settled,  he  slipped  out  of  bed  and 
got  down  tiptoe  into  the  hall.  At  the  door  he 
took  down  a  spear  from  the  rack,  then  shot  back 
the  bolt  and  went  out.  Two  of  the  dogs  got  up 
and  jumped  about  him,  but  he  made  them  go 
back  and  lie  down. 

He  went  into  the  straw-yard,  and  saw  the 
horses  huddled  together,  asleep,  but  all  stand- 
ing. He  saw  Illing  at  once,  looking  white  in 
the  moonlight,  like  a  silver  horse.  He  went 
first  into  the  byre  and  took  down  a  halter. 
Then  he  went  up  to  Illing  and  caught  him  by 
the  forelock.  He  had  some  difficulty  with  the 
halter,  as  he  was  too  short  by  a  head  for  his 
business;  but  by  standing  on  the  edge  of  a 
water-trough  he  managed  the  job,  and  led  Ill- 
ing quietly  away. 

He  took  him  into  an  outhouse,  and  made  him 
stand.  He  hated  the  whole  thing  by  this  time, 
but  knew  that  it  must  be  done.  So  he  lifted  his 
Bpear  and  drove  it  in  with  all  his  might.    Illing 


10  THOEGILS 

threw  his  head  up  and  plunged  wildly;  but 
even  so,  he  slipped  back  on  his  haunches  and 
couldn't  get  up.  He  sawed  with  his  head  two 
or  three  times,  and  then  fell  sideways  and  lay 
still,  breathing  deeply.  Thorgils  stood  leaning 
on  his  spear  until  Illing  was  perfectly  still — ■ 
then  he  went  back  to  the  house.  He  had  no 
pride  in  what  he  had  done.  It  seemed  to  be  a 
hateful  business  got  over.  He  went  to  bed 
again,  and  set  himself  the  task  of  going  to 
sleep — in  which  he  succeeded. 

In  the  morning  there  was  a  great  to-do.  The 
horses  were  turned  out  to  grass,  and  Illing  was 
not  to  be  found.  Thorgrim  said  that  he  had 
seen  him  in  the  straw-yard  overnight,  and  that 
he  7nust  be  found.  The  men  went  out  again  to 
look,  and  Thorgils,  who  could  not  bear  the  sus- 
pense, went  with  them,  and  took  them  into  the 
outhouse.  There  lay  old  Illing  stiff  in  his  blood. 
Nothing  was  said  to  any  purpose  until  they 
came  back  to  Thorgrim  again.  Then  Thorgrim 
said,  *  *  Who  can  have  done  this  ?  ' ' 

**  I  killed  him,"  Thorgils  said,  ^^  last  night.'' 
Thorgrim    grew    very    red.      **  You    killed 
him?    You?     What  did  you  do  that  for,  my 
lad?  '' 


THE  KILLING  OF  THE  HORSE       11 

Thorgils  told  him  the  reason,  and  added  that 
the  horse  was  his  own. 

**  You  are  wrong  there/'  said  Thorgrim. 
^'  The  horse  was  mine,  as  everything  is  here 
while  your  mother  is  alive.  Your  reason  is  a 
foolish  one — ^but  it 's  all  of  a  piece  with  the  rest 
of  your  days  here.  Now  there  shall  be  an  end 
of  it.    Out  you  go.'' 

Thorwen  was  in  the  women's  room  where 
the  girls  were  making  the  beds.  She  looked 
through  the  door,  and  then  came  into  the  hall. 
**  What  has  he  done  now,  that  you  tell  him  he 
shall  go  out?  "  Thorgrim  told  her  the  whole 
story.  He  was  very  angry,  though  he  didn't 
offer  to  beat  Thorgils  for  it. 

*^He  has  never  settled  down  with  me  since  I 
came  here.  I  don't  like  it  and  won't  have  it. 
But  this  is  too  much,  and  there  shall  be  no 
more.  I'll  take  him  over  to  Loft  at  Mirehouses 
and  have  him  fostered  there.  He'll  be  within 
reach  of  you  if  you  want  to  see  him,  and  Loft 
will  do  anything  for  Thord's  son."  Thorwen 
did  not  gainsay  him ;  and  the  end  of  it  was  that 
Thorgils  was  taken  over  to  Mirehouses  that 
same  evening.  Mirehouses  lies  East  of  Tread- 
holt,  some  seven  miles  nearer   to    Cogsound. 


12  THORGILS 

Loft  had  been  a  great  friend  of  Thord  and  was 
pleased  to  have  Thorgils. 

There  he  stayed  until  he  was  old  enough  to 
go  abroad. 


CHAPTER    II 

THE    DRIVING    OF    THE    THRALLS 

THORGILS  grew  fast  and  far  at  Mire- 
houses,  where  no  check  was  put  upon 
him,  and  he  was  allowed  to  go  very  much 
as  he  liked.  It  is  a  great  thing  for  a  boy  to  be 
where  he  is  understood.  Loft  was  amused  by 
him,  and  used  to  talk  to  him  as  if  they  were 
both  of  an  age.  He  called  him  ^*  kinsman'*: 
<<  Why,  yes,  kinsman,''  he  used  to  say,  and,  *^  I 
daresay  you  are  right,  kinsman."  Loft's  wife 
was  called  Reginn,  a  good  woman,  who  had 
had  misfortunes  with  her  children.  None  of 
them  were  living  at  this  time;  so  you  can 
understand  that  Thorgils  fared  none  the  worse 
for  that. 

Loft  always  said  that  his  foster  son  would 
turn  out  a  paragon.  He  had  a  large  and  free 
way  with  him,  he  said,  by  which  you  could  tell 
one  who  would  take  on  him  the   handling  of 

13 


14  THORGILS 

men.  For  another  thing,  Thorgils  was  never 
two-minded  about  any  job  in  hand.  He  always 
knew  what  he  wanted  to  do,  and  what  he  in- 
tended.   You  can  tell  by  that. 

Thorgils  himself  was  aware  of  it.  He  told 
Loft  how  it  was.  He  said,  **  You  see,  Loft,  it 
isn't  that  I  wmit  to  do  a  thing;  but  I  know  be- 
forehand that  it  is  going  to  he  done/'  **  That's 
it,  kinsman,''  said  Loft.  **  That's  the  man  of 
action.  And  you'd  do  it,  I  daresay,  although 
you  might  die  for  it — and  know  beforehand 
that  you  were  going  to  die  for  it."  But  Thor- 
gils had  nothing  to  say  to  that,  because  it  had 
never  come  into  his  head  that  he  might  die  one 
day.  Other  people  died — like  his  father  at 
sea,  or  like  Illing,  his  old  grey  horse — ^but 
he  couldn't  conceive  of  his  own  death  some- 
how. 

But  he  was  fully  nine  years  old  before  he 
could  make  his  friend  Loft  happy  in  the  cer- 
tainty of  his  fame  to  come.  He  was  then  a  big 
and  strong  boy,  good  to  look  at  if  only  because 
he  was  so  healthy.  They  had  a  boat  ready  for 
sea.  Loft  and  half  a  dozen  of  his  people.  They 
were  going  out  beyond  the  Islands  to  fish,  and 
it  would  be  a  day  and  night  affair  before  they 


THE  DRIVING  OF  THE  THRALLS      15 

had  done  with  it.  At  the  last  minute  Loft  could 
not  go.  A  great  stone  of  the  ballast  fell  on  his 
foot  and  broke  his  ankle.  Thorgils  begged  that 
he  might  take  his  place.  He  said  that  he 
could  row  as  well  as  any  of  them.  Loft  let 
him  go. 

It  was  late  in  the  season,  and  the  weather, 
none  too  good  at  starting,  turned  squally  and 
cold  almost  as  soon  as  they  were  outside  the 
land.  But  they  cast  anchor  on  the  good  ground 
and  set  to  work  at  their  fishing.  Thorgils  let 
down  his  line,  and  had  hardly  found  bottom  be- 
fore he  was  into  a  great  fish.  It  was  all  he 
could  do  to  hold  it,  but  hold  it  he  did,  and 
brought  it  up  to  the  side,  where  one  of  the  men 
got  a  hook  into  it  and  hauled  it  inboard.  It 
was  a  huge  flat  fish,  like  a  flounder,  only  much 
bigger — pinky-white  on  one  side,  and  brown  on 
the  other,  with  a  tail  as  long  as  a  cow's  when 
the  skin  is  off  it.  It  curled  and  flacked  about 
all  over  the  place  until  its  head  was  beaten; 
and  then  it  died.  Nobody  caught  anything  else 
though  they  stuck  it  out  through  the  night; 
then,  when  the  morning  broke  stormily,  with  a 
choppy  sea  and  heavy  sleet  showers,  they  put 
up  anchor  and  turned  for  home.    Now  it  was 


16  THORGILS 

that  Thorgils  proved  his  mettle,  for  he  took  an 
oar  and  pulled  like  a  man. 

Once  in  harbour,  nobody  must  carry  his  fish 
but  himself.  * '  Have  it  your  own  way,  master, ' ' 
said  the  thralls.  There  was  only  one  way  of 
doing  it,  and  that  was  to  haul  it  up  the  path 
with  a  cord  passed  through  the  gill;  and  thus 
attached  Thorgils  tugged  at  his  fish  with  a 
will.  By-and-by  the  string  gets  frayed,  and 
presently  parts,  and  pitches  Thorgils  on  to 
his  nose.  Then,  busying  himself  with  a  new 
attachment,  he  sees  something  shinng  in  the 
fish's  gill.  **  What's  that  bright  thing  inside 
my  fish's  head?  "  They  come  round  him  and 
look.  They  dig  with  a  knife — a  silver  ring! 
**  You  are  to  be  the  lucky  man,  master,''  they 
tell  him;  and  Thorgils  takes  it  quietly.  Loft 
said  just  the  same  when  the  ring  was  given  him 
to  keep  for  his  foster  son.  He  was  proud  of 
the  lad,  knowing  what  a  wind  and  tide  he  had 
had  to  pull  against. 

Thorgils  was  considered  as  a  man  after  this, 
and  given  man's  work  to  do;  but  it  was  the 
driving  of  the  thralls  that  made  him  famous 
all  over  the  country;  and  that  happened  before 
he  was  twelve  years  old.    There's  a  track  be- 


THE  DRIVING  OF  THE  THRALLS       17 

hind  Mirehouses  which  crosses  the  first  ridge 
of  hills  and  takes  you  down  into  a  river  bottom. 
Good  fishing  is  to  be  had  in  the  river,  and  Thor- 
gils  was  often  there  by  himself.  On  the  fur- 
ther side  of  the  ridge  from  Mirehouses,  half- 
way down  the  hill  towards  the  river,  are 
barrows,  where  good  men  have  been  buried  ac- 
cording to  custom.  It  is  a  lonely  place  where 
you  rarely  meet  a  soul ;  but  in  the  valley,  about 
the  river  on  either  side,  there  are  pasture  fields 
and  certain  tilth  also  where  men  work  in  the 
summertime. 

Now  Thorgils  was  coming  home  late  one 
night  from  his  fishing.  It  was  dusk,  but  not 
dark;  and  as  he  came  up  the  ridge  from  the 
river  he  thought  he  saw  men  standing  about 
one  of  the  barrows.  After  a  time  he  was  sure 
of  it.  It  was  curious,  because  it  had  never  hap- 
pened before.  Nobody  went  near  the  barrows 
after  dark,  because  you  never  knew  what  the 
dead  might  do.  Sometimes  they  were  not  put  in 
right,  and  grumbled  about  it;  sometimes  they 
were  merry  and  used  to  sing,  sitting  up  inside 
the  cairn.  Sometimes  they  used  to  rattle  their 
weapons  and  call  out  strange  old  cries  to  each 
other,  using  names  which  had  been  forgotten. 


18  THORGILS 

Nobody  cared  for  such  things  in  the  dark.  But 
now  there  were  several  men  about  one  of  the 
barrows,  and  very  busy  with  something.  Thor- 
gils  knew  that  he  must  go  and  see  what  they 
were  doing  there — so  he  left  the  path  and  went. 
He  took  care  that  they  should  not  see  him 
coming. 

By  using  the  cover  of  other  barrows  he  came 
within  easy  sight  of  them.  They  were  thralls, 
and  there  were  ^ve  of  them.  One  had  a  pick, 
one  a  spade.  One  stood  and  looked  about ;  and 
two  others  were  kneeling  beside  the  barrow 
where  two  were  at  work. 

Thorgils  watched  them  for  a  long  time,  very 
excited.  He  guessed  now  that  they  were  going 
to  rob  the  dead  man  inside,  and  knew  that  he 
must  stop  them.  But  he  thought  it  better  to 
wait  until  he  could  take  them  red-handed. 
They  had  nothing  as  yet,  though  they  were  a 
long  way  in.  He  thought  also,  that  if  they  did 
get  anything  he  would  take  it  from  them  and 
give  it  to  Loft.  Loft  could  do  what  he  pleased 
with  it  afterwards. 

By  this  time  it  was  almost  dark,  and  Thor- 
gils was  able  to  stand  up  within  stone-throwing 
distance  of  the  thralls.    In  any  case  they  were 


THE  DRIVING  OF  THE  THRALLS       19 

at  the  climax  of  their  job,  and  much  too  intent 
on  what  they  were  about  to  have  any  regard 
for  him.  The  man  with  the  shovel  withdrew 
himself  from  the  tunnel  he  had  cleared :  imme- 
diately another  of  them  threw  himself  down 
and  crawled  into  the  hole  head  first.  He  came 
out  with  something  in  his  hands,  which  they  all 
looked  at.  Then  he  went  in  again  and  re- 
mained a  good  time.  He  brought  back  more 
treasure.  They  all  huddled  together  and  bick- 
ered over  it.  That  was  the  time  for  Thorgils. 
He  came  down  on  them  like  a  squall,  and 
they  scattered  and  fell  all  ways.  ''  On  your 
knees,  on  your  knees!  "  They  took  to  their 
knees.  ''  Now  hand  over,"  said  Thorgils. 
"Without  a  word  to  say,  the  silver  was  handed 
up  to  him — for  it  was  all  silver— arm-rings  and 
a  chain,  and  a  large  cup  without  handles.  Thor- 
gils, who  was  unknown  to  them, — for  they  were 
not  thralls  of  Mirehouses— cut  up  his  line  into 
lengths  and  bound  their  hands  behind  them. 
Not  a  man  of  them  stirred,  and  not  one  had 
anything  to  say.  ''  Up,  now,  all  of  you,''  said 
Thorgils ;  and  they  stood  up.  So  then  he  drove 
them  over  the  moor  and  on  to  the  track,  like  a 
flock  of  sheep,  guiding  them  with  his  fishing- 


20  THORGILS 

pole,  and  brought  them  down  to  Mirehouses. 
He  had  trouble  with  them  once ;  for  when  they 
found  out  whither  he  was  driving  them,  one 
of  them  guessed  w^ho  he  was,  and  tried  to  run 
for  it.  But  Thorgils  was  too  quick  for  him, 
and  cut  him  over  the  head  with  his  pole.  The 
others  stopped  meekly  while  their  mate  fell 
into  his  place  again.  So  he  brought  them  into 
the  garth  and  had  them  all  heaped  together  at 
the  door  when  Loft  came  to  open  it.  They  were 
roped  to  each  other  and  tied  up  for  the  night, 
and  driven  home  next  day  to  the  place  they 
came  from.  There  was  nearly  three  pounds- 
weight  of  silver  altogether,  which  Loft  kept. 
But  the  report  of  Thorgils'  deed  went  all  over 
the  country,  and  he  was  considered  a  champion. 
Scarleg,  his  stepfather,  now  wanted  him  home 
again,  for  his  wife  said  to  him,  *  *  You  see  what 
has  come  of  it.  If  Thorgils  had  stopped  here 
you  would  have  had  that  treasure  for  yourself. 
Now  Loft  has  it,  as  is  right  enough.'' 

So  Scarleg  made  up  to  Thorgils  and  asked 
him  to  come  back;  but  Thorgils  said  that  he 
was  well  off  where  he  was,  and  should  cer- 
tainly stay  with  Loft.  He  used  to  go  over  to 
see  his  mother  now  and  then,  and  took  an  in- 


THE  DRIVING  OF  THE  THRALLS       21 

terest  in  her  child  by  Scarleg,  his  half-brother, 
who  was  called  Haering ;  but  he  was  never  the 
same  to  her  since  she  had  allowed  him  to  be 
fostered  at  Mirehouses. 


CHAPTER    in 

THE    SWORD    CALLED    BLADE 

WHEN  the  time  was  come,  which  was 
when  Thorgils  was  full-grown,  he 
told  Loft  that  he  should  like  to  go 
abroad.  Loft  said  he  had  expected  as  much — 
**  and  I  think  you  will  give  a  good  account  of 
yourself  wherever  you  go."  There  was  cer- 
tainly every  sign  of  it  about  him.  He  was  tall 
and  broad-chested ;  a  very  fair  young  man,  yel- 
low-haired, with  a  high  colour  and  blue  eyes. 
Loose  in  the  limbs,  as  if  the  ligatures  were  not 
set,  for  all  that  he  was  active  and  most  supple, 
a  good  swimmer  and  a  great-hearted  young 
man.  He  was  by  no  means  quarrelsome,  and 
had  never  yet  come  to  grips  with  anybody  with 
any  notion  but  sport  in  his  head.  Yet  men 
obeyed  him  readily  when  he  spoke  sharply  and 
as  if  he  meant  it,  and  to  be  sure  he  had  not 
matched  himself  with  adventurers  outside  his 
little  world.    Now,  however,  he  was  to  go. 

22 


THE  SWOED  CALLED  BLADE        23 

He  went  in  a  ship  from  Cogsonnd  wMch.  was 
bound  for  Norway,  the  intention  in  his  head 
being  to  take  service  under  Earl  Haakon  who 
then  ruled  there;  but  things  did  not  turn  out 
quite  as  he  expected.  Head  winds  which  opened 
out  into  North-easterly  gales  drove  them  out  of 
their  course,  and  they  fared  too  far  to  the 
South  for  Trondjhem,  which  they  had  aimed  at. 
After  much  tossing  and  drifting  about  they 
made  out  a  coast-line  some  three  weeks  after 
sailing,  and  hailed  a  long-ship  which  came 
across  their  course.  She  waited  for  them — a 
black  ship  with  shields  hung  along  her  gun- 
wale, a  large  company  of  fighting  men  on  board, 
and  an  Earl  sitting  on  the  after-deck,  a  fine 
figure  of  a  man. 

This  was  Earl  Eric  Thorwaldsson,  called, 
and  very  properly  called,  Eric  the  Red — for 
he  was  as  red  as  a  red  boar,  and  not  unlike  one 
— with  his  little  angry  eyes,  shining  tusks,  and 
great  chops  covered  with  coarse  hair.  Yet  a 
conversable  man,  very  friendly  so  soon  as  he 
made  out  whom  he  had  to  deal  with.  He 
agreed  to  let  the  Icelanders  bear  him  company, 
for  he  said  that  he  was  bound  for  Norway  too, 
and  should  look  to  them  to  bear  a  hand  if  he 


24  THORGILS 

met  any  of  his  unfriends.  **  Likely  enough  I 
shall,*'  he  said,  ^*  and  men  who  would  make 
their  profit  of  me,  for  I  am  outlawed  at  this 
time,  and  don't  care  who  knows  it."  It  ap- 
peared that  he  had  taken  a  man's  wife  from 
him  and  had  her  still,  and  again  that  he  had 
killed  a  chieftain  called  Waltheow  by  starting 
an  avalanche  to  fall  on  his  house.  He  took 
rather  a  fancy  to  Thorgils  and  would  have  had 
him  in  his  service,  but  Thorgils  said  that  he  had 
intended  to  see  Earl  Haakon  first,  and  should 
do  so.  *^  There's  time  enough,"  he  said,  and 
Eric  said  that  was  a  good  answer  at  Thorgils' 
age,  though  not  so  good  at  his  own ! 

After  that  they  fell  in  with  a  Danish  ship, 
and  there  was  a  battle.  They  got  alongside 
and  bound  the  ships  together.  Then  they 
fought  on  one  or  the  other  as  the  tide  of  battle 
turned.  Eric  was  like  a  man  inspired;  he  was 
like  a  bersark,  singing  all  the  time  at  the  top 
of  his  voice,  laying  about  him  with  a  long  bill, 
and  yet  foreseeing  every  turn  in  the  game  like 
a  goal-keeper  at  a  football-match.  Thorgils  be- 
haved with  great  coolness,  standing  high  on  the 
poop  with  a  long  bow  and  two  bundles  of  ar- 
rows.   He  made  very  good  shooting,  and  was 


THE  SWOED  CALLED  BLADE        25 

aimed  at  repeatedly  by  the  Danes,  who  found 
him  dangerous.  He  should,  by  all  odds,  have 
been  killed  half  a  dozen  times;  but  nothing 
touched  him,  and  he  did  not  leave  his  post  until 
he  had  shot  away  all  his  arrows.  Then  with  a 
youiig  man  of  Eric's  ship — a  young  man  called 
Eadwine — he  cleared  the  decks  of  Danes,  and 
got  hurt  in  the  calf  by  a  wounded  man  who 
tried  to  hamstring  him. 

As  for  Earl  Eric,  somebody  chopped  at  him 
and  took  off  his  forefinger.  He  stooped  and 
picked  it  up.  *^  My  old  finger?  Take  it,  you 
greedy  swine;''  and  he  threw  it  at  his  assail- 
ant and  hit  him  in  the  eye  with  it.  **  There's 
for  you,  and  here's  for  you."  He  hewed  him 
down  before  he  could  see  what  was  coming 
next. 

They  got  a  great  booty  off  that  ship,  and 
went  on  their  course;  but  the  Icelanders  per- 
sisted in  making  Trondjhem  because  Earl 
Haakon  would  be  there,  which  was  precisely 
Earl  Eric's  reason  for  not  going  thither.  When 
they  parted  company  Eadwine  said  that  he 
should  go  with  Thorgils.  They  had  mixed  their 
blood  and  sworn  everlasting  friendship.  Eric 
made  a  long  face  when  he  heard  about  it — **  I'll 


26  THORGILS 

have  you  both  one  of  these  days,"  he  said, 
*^  but  I  suppose  I  must  lose  you  now.  You 
youngsters  take  these  things  to  heart.  Now, 
Thorgils,''  he  said,  *'  remember  you  are  to 
come  to  me  when  I  send  for  you.''  Thorgils 
promised. 

I  haven't  much  to  say  about  Thorgils  in  Nor- 
way, as  he  was  there  for  a  short  time  only.  He 
didn't  care  for  Earl  Haakon,  who,  being  near 
the  end  of  his  tether,  had  fallen  into  bad  ways, 
what  with  women  and  wine.  So  he  and  Ead- 
wine,  like-minded  with  him,  spent  their  time 
looking  about  for  likelier  company.  They 
found  a  ship  which  was  going  to  Scotland, 
made  their  proposals  and  were  accepted.  This 
ship  belonged  to  a  chieftain  of  Caithness 
named  Anlaf,  and  was  going  home.  On  board 
her  was  a  rather  notable  Viking,  called  Swart, 
which  was  his  real  name,  and  also  Ironhead, 
which  was  the  name  of  his  nature.  Swart  said 
that  he  was  going  over  to  get  Anlaf 's  sister  in 
marriage,  but  that  he  shouldn't  stay  very  long. 
**  I'll  take  the  woman  and  all  I  can  get  with 
her,  and  then  I  shall  go  to  England,"  he  said, 
**  where  I  can  do  better."  He  talked  very  big, 
but  nobody  paid  much  attention  to  him.    Ead- 


THE  SWORD  CALLED  BLADE        27 

wine  said  he  was  a  bersark.  Thorgils  shrugged 
his  shoulders.  **  He  talks  bersark/'  he  said, 
**  yet  I  am  thinking  he  could  be  dealt  with  by 
a  man  of  his  hands/' 

Well,  the  short  of  the  matter  is  that  they 
made  a  good  run  of  it,  and  were  well  received 
by  Earl  Anlaf — all  of  them,  that  is,  except 
Swart  Ironhead,  who  was  not  so  welcome. 
Eadwine  admired  Gudrun,  the  sister  of  Anlaf, 
and  saw  as  much  of  her  as  he  could.  Thorgils 
was  not  so  sure  about  her ;  but  women  did  not 
stand  for  much  with  him.  The  difficulty  was 
with  the  lady,  a  tall  and  handsome  girl,  who 
said  that  no  earthly  power  would  bring  her  to 
marry  Swart.  She  said  that  in  full  hall  when 
she  was  sitting  on  the  dais.  It  was  a  great 
insult,  and  Swart  fumed  over  it.  Earl  Anlaf,  a 
jolly,  easy-tempered  sort  of  man,  tried  to  laugh 
it  off;  but  Swart  wouldn't  have  it  and  said  that 
a  bargain  had  been  made.  ^*  And  I  intend  to 
hold  you  to  it.  Earl,"  he  said,  ''  and  to  have 
recompense  for  an  open  insult.  So  now  I  chal- 
lenge you  to  single  battle  on  the  holm,  and  the 
sooner  the  better." 

Earl  Anlaf  said  that  Gudrun,  his  sister,  was 
within  her  rights  in  refusing  the  man,  and  that 


28  THORGILS 

he  should  be  within  the  rights  of  an  oldish  man 
in  refusing  his  battle.  ''  And  I  don't  doubt/' 
he  said,  ''  that  I  shall  find  a  blade  to  meet 
yours,  and,  as  you  say,  the  sooner  the  better/' 
There  the  matter  ended  for  the  time ;  but  after- 
wards Thorgils  went  to  Earl  Anlaf  and  told 
him  that  he  was  ready  to  meet  Swart  on  the 
holm — *'  and  as  soon  as  he  please." 

''  Why  do  you  offer  yourself?  "  said  the 
Earl. 

Thorgils  answered,  *'  Because  I  dislike  Swart 
and  should  be  glad  of  a  smack  at  him.  And 
because  I  think  Gudrun  should  do  as  she 
pleases  with  herself.  And  because  I  should  like 
to  put  in  a  word  for  her  afterwards." 

''  Would  you  indeed!  "says  the  Earl. ''  This 
is  news.  Why,  she  is  five  years  older  than 
you,  and  a  notable  match." 

''  We  can  talk  about  all  that  afterwards," 
said  Thorgils.  '*  One  thing  at  a  time  is  the 
best  plan."  Anlaf  agreed  to  have  him  as  his 
champion. 

Thorgils  talked  it  over  with  his  friend  Ead- 
wine,  who  said  that  it  would  be  a  good  battle, 
and  a  fine  thing  to  put  Swart  out  of  the  way. 
*'  He's  a  bad  one,"  Eadwine  said,  *'  but  don't 


THE  SWORD  CALLED  BLADE        29 

suppose  that  he  will  shirk  hard  blows.  That's 
not  the  way  of  it.  But  I'll  tell  you  this  about 
him.  He  believes  that  he  can  only  be  killed  by 
a  certain  sword,  which  is  here  in  the  house ;  and 
whenever  he  fights  he  asks  his  enemy,  Has  he 
the  sword  called  Blade?  And  if  he  maintains 
that  he  has,  he  won't  fight.  Now  wait  for  me 
here  while  I  go  and  fetch  Blade." 

Presently  he  returned  with  the  sword. 
**  Now,"  said  Eadwine,  ^^  here  is  your  plan. 
Thrust  Blade  into  the  sand  when  you  come  to 
the  holm  where  the  ground  is  marked  out.  If 
Swart  asks  you  about  it,  say  that  you  don't 
know  that  its  hilt  is  above  the  earth.  That 
will  satisfy  him  and  be  no  lie." 

*'  Good,"  said  Thorgils. 

So  it  fell  out.  Swart  asked  his  question  be- 
fore they  went  to  work,  and  Thorgils  answered 
as  it  had  been  agreed  upon.  They  faced  each 
other;  but  at  the  moment  of  joining  battle, 
Thorgils  dropped  his  own  sword,  stooped  and 
pulled  up  Blade  out  of  the  sand.  He  did  that 
so  quickly  that  Swart  didn't  see  what  he  was 
about. 

They  fought  fiercely  for  a  while  without 
advantage  either  way,  but  presently  Thorgils 


30  THOEGILS 

saw  his  chance  and  hewed  off  the  tail  of 
Swart 's  shield.  Swart  gave  a  deep  groan  and 
fell.  Then  they  found  that  his  left  leg  was  off 
too,  a  clean  cut  through  the  thigh.  Then  Thor- 
gils  cut  off  the  man's  head,  and  that  was  the 
end  of  Swart. 

In  the  flush  of  victory  Thorgils  now  did  what 
he  had  not  intended,  that  is,  he  determined  to 
have  Gudrun  for  himself.  His  first  thought, 
when  he  undertook  Anlaf 's  battle  for  him,  had 
been  to  hand  her  over  to  Eadwine,  who  was  in 
love  with  her  and  wanted  her  badly.  But  now 
he  had  changed  his  mind.  He  was  not  in  love 
with  Gudrun,  but  he  intended  to  have  her.  So 
he  spoke  for  her  with  her  brother  Anlaf,  who 
really  had  nothing  to  say  against  it.  What- 
ever Thorgils'  fortune  may  have  been  in  Ice- 
land, he  was  now  a  rich  man;  for  the  law  of 
the  holm  was  that  the  goods  of  the  beaten  fell 
to  the  conqueror.  Here  he  stood  then,  master 
of  three  or  four  ships  with  their  companies 
and  a  store  of  goods  beside.  Therefore  Anlaf, 
after  a  word  or  two  with  Gudrun,  who  was 
willing,  contracted  her  to  Thorgils,  and  they 
were  to  be  married  at  short  notice. 

But  now  Eadwine  wanted   to    have  Blade 


THE  SWORD  CALLED  BLADE        31 

back,  and  Thorgils  was  not  so  ready.  **  That's 
a  rarely  good  sword,''  he  said.  **  I  would  as 
soon  give  you  my  wife  as  that  sword."  Ead- 
wine  said  that  it  did  not  belong  to  either  of 
them,  and  that  he  must  by  all  means  put  it  back 
in  the  house.  ''  But,"  he  said,  **  I  believe  you 
will  find  a  good  sword  before  you  go."  Then 
Thorgils  gave  him  back  Blade,  and  made  the 
best  of  it. 

He  stayed  in  Caithness  through  the  winter, 
and  next  summer  there  was  a  foray  into  Ire- 
land. The  marriage  was  to  be  when  they  re- 
turned. It  was  in  Ireland  that  he  found  the 
sword  of  which  Eadwine  had  dreamed  and  told 
him.  That  sword  must  have  a  chapter  to  itself, 
for  it  lived  as  long  as  Thorgils  did — and 
longer. 


CHAPTER    IV, 


EAETH-HOUSE-PEEY 


THEY  pulled  out  from  Wick,  two  ships, 
and  hoisted  their  sails,  with  a  fair  wind 
from  the  N.  N.  E.  They  headed  for  the 
open  sea  and  laid  a  straight  course  for  the 
ocean.  The  wind  held  them  throughout,  and 
blew  on  their  quarter  when  they  shifted  to  a 
more  southerly  course.  After  a  week  at  sea 
they  made  the  land,  and  ran  into  a  deep  bay  of 
black  rock,  with  islands  dotted  about  it  like 
sleeping  whales.  Flocks  of  sea-birds  were 
here,  which  flickered  in  the  air  like  snow  when 
they  drew  in.  The  coast  seemed  to  be  unin- 
habited, and  they  saw  no  men  when  they  ran 
ashore  and  beached  their  ships.  One  of  these 
was  Thorgils'  own;  he  had  thirty  fighting  men, 
who  had  been  Swarfs,  but  were  now  answer- 
able to  him  only.  Eadwine  commanded  the 
other  ship. 

They  divided.     Ead^^dne  and  his  company 

32 


EAETH-HOUSE-PREY  33 

took  the  shore  and  went  harrying;  Thorgils 
left  a  sufficiency  of  men  with  the  ships  and  took 
the  remnant  with  him.  He  would  go  inland  to 
see  what  was  to  be  seen. 

It  was  forest  country,  he  found  out.  Atop  of 
the  cliffs  the  woods  began  within  half  a  mile 
of  the  sea,  and  had  no  visible  ending  on  any 
side.  They  found  little  to  reward  them  for 
their  pains,  and  were  hard  put  to  it  to  get  food. 
Sometimes  they  were  shot  at  from  the  trees, 
but  could  not  see  who  sped  the  bolts.  Now 
and  again  they  came  upon  the  remains  of  fire ; 
but  no  houses  or  stockaded  towns,  and  no  herds 
or  flocks. 

They  wandered  about  without  any  sure 
sense  of  direction  for  more  than  a  week.  Then 
they  came  to  a  clearing  in  the  forest,  where 
there  was  a  heath,  and  a  black  pool  of  water 
with  reeds  on  all  sides  of  it.  Trees  were  dotted 
about  sparsely,  here  and  there.  They  saw  an 
oak  tree  standing  by  itself,  bare  of  leaves,  while 
all  the  other  trees  were  in  the  new  green  of 
summer. 

They  looked  at  this  tree  for  a  long  time,  and 
walked  about  it.  **  There  is  some  meaning  in 
it,''  Thorgils  said.    ''  Either  it  is  rooted  deep 


34  THORGILS 

into  something  poisonous,  and  has  died  so,  or  it 
has  no  root  at  all.  Now  I  believe  that  the  latter 
is  the  true  state  of  the  case.'' 

One  of  them  climbed  the  tree  and  fastened  a 
rope  round  the  top  of  it.  They  hauled  on  the 
rope,  and  the  tree  began  to  rock.  After  some 
time  of  hauling  and  rocking,  down  she  came 
with  a  crash.  She  was  hollow ;  and  the  ground 
below  her  was  hollow.  Thorgils  looked  in  the 
hole,  and  in  the  dark  saw  bright  eyes  fixed  upon 
him.  He  counted  five  pair,  but  thought  there 
might  be  more. 

He  called  his  men  about  him.  **  There  are 
earth-dwellers  under  our  tree,"  he  said.  ^^  I 
don't  know  how  many — but  a  number.  Now  we 
will  make  a  bargain  to  share  what  they  may 
have  stored  down  there;  but  we  will  say,  and 
take  an  oath  upon  it,  that  the  first  man  down 
shall  take  three  portions,  and  the  second  man 
down  two  portions,  and  after  that  the  remain- 
ing portions  shall  be  put  together  and  re- 
divided,  so  that  the  others  share  equally  in 
them.  Is  that  agreed!  "  They  said  ''  Yes." 
*'  Very  well,"  said  Thorgils.  ''  Then  here's 
for  three  shares."  With  that  he  jumped  into 
the  hole,  and  chanced  it. 


EARTH-HOUSE-PREY  35 

There  was  a  great  hollow  place  down  there, 
and  a  mighty  to-do  when  Thorgils  was  in  it. 
Three  men  jumped  on  him  at  once,  and  he  felt 
claws  at  work  on  his  legs — but  there  were 
many  who  kept  out  of  his  way,  for  he  could 
hear  whistling  breath  and  fierce  whisperings 
in  the  dark.  He  had  a  short-handled  axe  in  his 
hand,  and  killed  two  of  his  assailants  outright. 
The  third  had  him  round  the  neck  and  his 
teeth  fastened  into  his  shoulder.  But  Thor- 
gils was  very  tough  in  the  neck,  and  having  his 
left  hand  free,  managed  to  get  his  knife  out  of 
his  belt.  With  that  he  drove  in  under  his  man  ^s 
ribs,  and  so  finished  him.  Then  he  called  up  to 
the  daylight.  **  Ho,  there,  come  down,  some 
of  you,  and  clear  out  this  den  with  me.''  Two 
or  three  men  jumped  down  and  stood  with 
Thorgils  in  the  middle,  where  the  light  fell. 
No  other  attacks  were  made. 

Presently  a  man  of  theirs  jumped  down 
with  a  torch  made  of  heather  which  he  had  con- 
trived to  light  with  a  flint-stone  and  his  axe; 
and  with  that  to  help  them  they  cleared  the 
hole.  Besides  the  three  dead  men  they  found 
fifteen  more  persons — one  a  very  old  man  with 
eyebrows  so  long  that  they  hid  his  eyes,  and 


36  THORGILS 

finger-nails  like  a  bird's  claws,  other  men  of 
valid  age,  very  sullen  and  frightened,  women 
with  children  at  the  breast,  girls  and  boys,  and 
two  or  three  youths  with  hair  as  black  as  crows 
and  dark-blue  eyes.  Some  of  the  girls  were 
handsome — all  of  them  pale,  with  black  hair. 
There  was  some  treasure,  gold  and  silver,  of 
which  Thorgils  kept  two  rings  for  himself ;  and 
there  was  a  sword  of  blue  steel,  very  finely  tem- 
pered, with  a  strange  light  upon  it.  It  was 
wrapt  up  in  a  blue  cloak,  but  shone  in  the  dark 
when  he  held  it  up.  **  Here's  the  sword  which 
was  promised  me,"  Thorgils  said.  *^  This 
shall  be  my  third  portion,  and  I  want  nothing 
else.  I  shall  call  this  sword  Earth-house-prey, 
and  men  shall  remember  it  in  days  to  come. 
The  rest  we  will  share,  except  this  old  man  who 
is  no  use  to  anybody.  Him  I  will  leave  behind 
in  his  hole — and  he  shall  have  a  girl  to  look 
after  him." 

That  was  how  they  did  it,  and  led  away  all 
the  rest  of  the  earth-dwellers,  dividing  them 
up  among  themselves. 

There  was  little  else  to  be  got  out  of  this 
shaggy  and  desert  country;  so  they  made  the 
best  of  their  way  back,  found  Eadwine  and  his 


EAUTH-HOUSE-PREY  37 

party  waiting  for  them  by  the  shore — with 
cattle  and  a^  few  captives — and  ran  the  ships 
out  to  sea  again. 

When  they  were  home  in  Caithness  Thorgils 
said  that  he  should  go  home  to  Iceland.  *'  I 
have  an  estate  out  there/'  he  told  Anlaf,  ''  in 
none  too  good  keeping.  I  think  it  time  to  cast 
my  eye  over  it.'' 

*^  But  you  are  to  marry  my  sister,  I  believe," 
Anlaf  said.  Thorgils  said  that  he  should  not 
go  on  with  it. 

''  We  are  not  suited  to  each  other,"  he  said. 
**  She  don't  care  very  much  for  me,  nor  I  for 
her,  to  be  plain  with  you.  If  you  are  willing,  I 
will  hand  her  over  to  Eadwine,  who  is  fond  of 
her,  and  will  treat  her  well.  He  was  in  love 
with  her  from  the  first,  which  I  was  not,  though 
I  felt,  just  after  the  battle,  that  I  might  have 
made  something  of  it." 

''  Well,"  Anlaf  said,  ''  I  think  you  are  treat- 
ing me  badly.  You  should  not  hand  a  man's 
sister  about  as  if  she  was  a  bale  of  goods." 

''  Far  from  that,"  Thorgils  said,  **  I  am 
working  to  make  her  happy.  She  would  never 
be  so  with  me.  If  you  are  willing  we  will  ask 
Eadwine  what  he  thinks— and  her  too." 


38  THOEGILS 

Anlaf  was  brought  round  to  it,  the  more 
especially  as  Gudrun  was  more  than  willing. 
So  that  was  settled.  Eadwine  said  it  was  very 
handsomely  done  by  Thorgils;  and  after  mid- 
summer Thorgils  went  home. 

A  good  deal  had  happened  while  he  was 
away.  He  found  Loft  in  charge  of  Treadholt, 
for  Thorwen  his  mother  was  dead,  his  brother 
Thorleik  had  gone  abroad,  and  as  for  Scarleg 
his  stepfather  and  Haering  his  half-brother, 
they  had  flitted  to  Stock-Eyre  and  were  settled 
out  there. 

Thorgils  told  Loft  that  he  should  stay  at 
home  for  a  while,  and  Loft  said  it  was  a  good 
thing.  **  You  are  a  great  man  now,  and  ought 
to  hold  your  own.  There's  a  new-comer  from 
the  North  settled  in  these  parts,  and  seems 
minded  to  take  things  with  a  high  hand.  We 
need  a  man  like  you." 

**  How  is  he  called,  your  new  man!  '' 

*'  Asgrim  is  his  name — Asgrim  Ellida- 
Grimsson.    Something  of  a  tyrant,  I  believe.'' 

**  Well,  we  will  see  what  we  can  make  of 
him,"  said  Thorgils. 


CHAPTER    y 

THOKEY    AND    GUDKUN" 

EVERYBODY  in  the  country  was  glad  to 
see  Thorgils  again.  They  made  feasts  for 
him  and  cried  his  name  up  to  the  skies. 
And  all  said  the  same  thing,  that  now  he  was 
come  to  live  at  home,  it  was  his  business  to  en- 
force the  rights  of  the  first  settlers,  and  not 
allow  a  rich  man  like  Asgrim  Ellida-Grimsson 
to  roughride  his  neighbours  because  he  had  a 
large  following.  He  used  to  ride  thirty  and 
sometimes  forty  to  the  Thing  and  cow  a  man 
down  by  threats  and  loud  conversation.  No- 
body liked  that,  and  there  was  much  feeling  in 
the  country  about  it.  And  again  it  was  said — 
and  Loft  said  it  often— that  he  ought  to  marry. 
He  was  quite  ready  for  that,  he  told  Loft,  if  he 
could  find  a  woman  to  suit  him.  Loft  said 
''  Ride  over  to  Calf  holt  and  see  what  you  think 
of  Thorey,  Thorward's  daughter." 


40  THORGILS 

Thorgils  said  that  he  certainly  would.  *  *  But 
what  is  she  doing  at  Calf  holt?  '^ 

**  She  is  fostered  there.  Thorward  is  dead 
and  Thorfinna  her  mother  minds  the  house  for 
her  son.  So  Thorey  is  with  lostan  of  Calf- 
holt  and  happy  all  day  long. ' ' 

**  Is  she  a  pretty  girl — or  what  would  you 
call  her?  " 

**  I  should  call  her  a  fine  girl,"  Loft  said, 
**  and  you  might  trust  her  to  your  death-day. 
There's  another  girl  there,  Gudrun,  her  foster 
sister.  They  are  bosom-friends ;  but  Gudrun  is 
not  for  your  way  of  living." 

**  Well,  I'll  go  over  one  day,"  said  Thorgils. 

So  he  did,  crossing  the  fell  by  the  path  where 
he  had  seen  the  thralls  rifling  the  grave  long  ago, 
fording  the  river  and  climbing  half-way  up  the 
second  ridge.  Calfholt  lay  there  very  snugly 
under  a  shingle  roof,  with  a  grove  of  birches 
on  the  weather  side.  It  was  afternoon  when  he 
reached  the  first  enclosures,  and  the  men  were 
out  in  the  meadows.  No  dogs  greeted  him. 
He  saw  two  girls  sitting  on  the  threshold  of  the 
house,  with  a  basin  between  them.  They  were 
strigging  berries,  and  made  a  good  contrast. 
One  had  hair  much  fairer  than  her  skin,  which 


THOREY  AND  GUDRUN  41 

was  flushed  like  a  pink  apple.  Her  hair  was 
flaxen-white,  and  very  long,  in  a  single  plait 
down  her  back.  The  other  was  of  pale  com- 
plexion, with  vivid  red  in  her  cheeks.  She  had 
dark  hair,  which  looked  black.  Thorgils  won- 
dered which  was  which.  He  saw  the  fair  girl 
look  up  at  the  sound  of  horse-hoofs.  The  other 
took  no  notice.  '^The  dark  one  is  Thorey,''  he 
said  to  himself. 

When  he  came  up  to  them  with  a  greeting, 
they  both  rose ;  the  fair  one  first.  He  asked  if 
lostan  was  at  home,  or  expected.  He  was  get- 
ting in  the  corn,  the  fair  girl  told  him,  and  would 
not  be  in  till  supper-time,  which  would  be  late. 

**  My  mother  is  in  the  house,''  she  said  then. 
*' I'll  go  and  fetch  her  to  you."  Thorgils 
thanked  her  and  sat  do\vn  by  the  other  girl.  He 
had  made  up  his  mind  that  it  was  Gudrun  who 
had  gone  for  her  mother,  and  was  sorry  about 
it,  because  he  liked  her  best.  When  she  got  up 
to  go  he  had  noticed  that  she  was  tall  and  deep- 
chested,  and  thought  that  she  walked  well, 
swinging  one  arm  freely  by  her  side. 

Meantime  he  helped  Thorey,  as  he  supposed, 
to  strig  raspberries,  and  talked  to  her.  She 
gave  him  good  answers.    He  thought  that  she 


42  THORGILS 

would  make  a  pleasant  sister-in-law,  but  judged 
that  she  was  used  to  men's  company,  and  per- 
haps rather  more  fond  of  it  than  she  need. 

Presently  the  fair  girl  came  back  and  saw 
what  he  was  doing.  Her  eyes,  very  blue  eyes, 
laughed,  but  she  hardly  smiled  with  her  mouth. 
*'  My  mother  begs  you  in,''  she  said.  *^  She 
says  that  you  are  very  welcome  to  her. ' ' 

Thorgils  stared.  **  But  if  she  hasn't  seen  me 
come,"  he  said,  **  how  can  she  know  whether  I 
am  welcome  or  not!  " 

**  I  told  her  your  name,"  the  girl  said. 

**  And  how  did  you  know  my  name,  pray?" 
said  Thorgils.  She  grew  rather  hot,  and  the 
other  answered  for  her. 

**  We  both  knew  you  as  soon  as  you  came 
into  the  garth.  You  are  Thorgils,  of  Tread- 
holt." 

Thorgils  laughed.  **  You  know  more  of  me 
than  I  know  of  you  at  present,"  he  said.  **  I 
shall  be  glad  to  see  your  mother."  Then  he 
went  into  the  house,  and  Thorgerd,  who  was 
lostan's  wife,  and  own  mother  of  one  of  the 
girls,  made  him  welcome. 

He  agreed  to  stay  until  lostan  came  in  with 
his  sons,  which  they  did  when  the  sun  rested  on 


THOEEY  AND  GUDRUN  43 

the  top  of  Eyjafell.  lostan  had  two  sons,  Col 
and  Starkad,  both  fine  young  men,  and  both  in- 
clined to  be  dark-hued.  That  set  Thorgils  puz- 
zling again,  for  their  colouring  was  very  much 
that  of  the  girl  he  had  decided  to  be  Thorey. 
lostan  himself,  a  well-to-do  farmer,  knew  all 
about  Treadholt  and  the  fame  of  its  new  master, 
and  it  may  well  be  that  he  knew  what  Thorgils 
was  come  after.  However,  he  said  nothing;  and 
when  he  had  washed  himself  the  girls  brought 
the  meat  in,  and  served  the  table  as  the  custom 
was. 

Thorgils  watched  them  both  carefully  and  felt 
himself  falling  in  love  with  the  flaxen-haired 
girl.  But  if  she  were  Gudrun  and  daughter  of 
the  house,  it  would  not  be  a  good  match  for  him. 
No  matter  for  that;  she  was  the  better  of  the 
two,  for  quite  apart  from  her  beauty  and  car- 
riage, which  were  beyond  cavil  the  finer,  she 
held  herself  with  more  gravity,  and  never  for- 
got what  she  was  about,  whereas  the  little  one's 
eyes  were  all  over  the  place,  and  she  was  a  great 
talker,  that  was  evident.  She  had  a  sleek  way 
of  smiling,  as  if  to  herself,  at  her  own  thoughts 
— but  really,  he  judged,  for  the  puzzlement  of 
the  world  about  her.    '^  She's  what  you  call  a 


44  THORGILS 

rogue,"  lie  thought,  *^  or  a  rascal  if  you  are 
angry.  She  would  be  a  handful  rather  than  an 
armful.    Give  me  a  grave  girl  for  a  wife.'' 

After  supper  they  sat  on  the  benches  beside 
the  house,  the  evening  being  fine  and  warm. 
Thorgils  told  the  franklin  what  his  errand  was. 
lostan  said  that  he  had  thought  as  much.  *  *  You 
will  be  wanting  a  wife,  as  is  reasonable,''  he 
said,  **  and  if  I  say  that  you  may  find  one  here, 
you'll  not  take  it  amiss.  Those  are  fine  girls, 
the  pair  of  them,  and  as  fond  of  one  another  as 
two  beans  in  a  pod." 

Thorgils  said,  not  a  doubt  of  it ;  and  then  lo- 
stan asked  him  which  of  them  he  had  thought 
about.  ^  *  I  own  that  Thorey  is  the  better  match 
for  you,"  he  went  on.  '*  She's  of  a  greater 
family  than  mine,  and  has  more  gear  to  her 
name,  though  I  will  do  as  much  for  my  Gudrun 
as  any  man  may  for  his  daughter." 

Thorgils  now  said  that  he  had  made  up  his 
mind.  He  went  straight  to  the  goal,  as  his  habit 
was. 

'*  I  don't  know  which  is  your  Gudrun  and 
which  is  your  fosterling,"  he  said,  *^  but  that 
makes  no  odds  to  me.  A  man  ought  to  know 
what  woman  he  wants  to  marry,  and  so  I  do,    I 


THOREY  AND  GUDRUN  45 

choose  for  the  fair  one  of  those  two  girls  of 
yours — and  now  you  shall  tell  me  whose  daugh- 
ter she  is.'* 

lostan  slapped  his  knee.    ''  Like  to  like,"  he 
said.    '*  You  have  chosen  for  Thorey.'' 

''  Why,  I  thought  I  had  picked  out  your  Gud- 
run,''  said  Thorgils,  colouring  up. 

''  Not  at  all,  master, '^  said  lostan.  ''  We 
don't  breed  that  colour  in  my  family.  No,  no. 
That  is  Thorward's  daughter,  and  her  mother 
is  Thorfinna  of  Ord,  who  will  have  to  be  asked 
about  it— though  it's  all  one  about  that.  Now 
I  will  fetch  the  girl  presently  and  you  shall  ask 
her  yourself,  but  all  being  settled  so  far  as  you 
are  concerned,  I  don't  mind  telling  you  now 
that  you've  chosen  the  better  of  the  two.  That 
is  a  great-hearted  girl  who  will  never  fail  you. 
Now  mine  is  a  good  girl  enough,  and  a  sweet- 
natured,  wholesome  girl— but  she's  fond  of  fun, 
and  that's  a  fact.  We  have  had  a  little  trouble 
now  and  then,  and  there  might  be  a  little  more 
on  the  way.  Nothing  wrong,  you  understand- 
but  there,  she's  young  and  fond  of  attention. 
And  as  sharp  as  a  needle,  too.  It  is  an  odd  thing, 
though,  that  you  should  have  chosen  Thorey  and 
thought  you  had  Gudrun."    Then  he  went  ofE 


46  THORGILS 

to  find  the  girls  and  left  Thorgils  alone.  He 
himself  did  not  think  it  at  all  odd. 

Presently  lostan  came  back.  Thorey  was 
with  him,  walking  gravely  by  his  side. 

**  Thorey, '^  said  lostan,  *^  Thorgils  here  has 
asked  for  you,  and  there 's  no  better  man  in  the 
country.  He  has  approved  himself  abroad,  and 
will  be  a  great  champion,  as  we  all  know.  Now 
what  will  you  say  to  himf  " 

She  turned  her  eyes  upon  Thorgils,  and  they 
were  very  steady.  Then  she  gave  him  her  hand 
without  a  word,  and  he  took  it,  and  kissed  her. 
**  You  knew  me  before  I  knew  you,"  he  said. 

Thorey  said,  **  I  knew  you  before  you  came 
into  the  home-field." 

**  Was  it  Gudrun  saw  me  first,  or  you?  " 

**  It  was  Gudrun,"  she  said,  *^  who  saw  you 
first,  but  it  was  I  who  knew  you  first." 

''  How  was  that?  "  said  Thorgils.  ''  How 
could  you  know  a  man  you  had  never  seen?  " 

She  blushed.  *'  I  had  heard  of  you  often," 
she  said,  **and  it  seemed  to  me  that  you  were 
like  your  doings."     Thorgils  laughed. 

The  upshot  of  it  was  a  plighting,  and  a  mar- 
riage. They  set  up  house  at  Treadholt  and 
were  happy  in  each  other:  as  the  book  says, 


THOREY  AND  GUDRUN  47 

*^  they  fared  together  very  well."  There  was 
no  meeting  so  far  with  Asgrim  Ellida-Grims- 
son,  who  was  heard  of  in  the  country  as  keep- 
ing a  great  train  and  carrying  things  with  a 
high  hand  at  assemblies.  Thorgils  also  had  a 
good  company  about  him;  and  it  was  believed 
that  he  would  uphold  any  one  who  was  put  upon 
by  Asgrim.  But  Thorgils  was  one  who  never 
made  trouble. 


CHAPTER    VI 


gudrun's  apfair 


BUT  nevertheless  there  was  trouble  next 
summer,  and  Thorgils  was  not  surprised 
to  hear  that  Gudrun  was  mixed  up  in  it. 
It  seems  that  a  man  named  Sorle,  who  lived  not 
far  from  Calfholt,  was  much  taken  with  Gud- 
run. He  was  a  rough-and-tumble,  strong  man, 
with  not  a  great  quantity  of  brains.  He  could 
have  done  the  thing  properly  if  he  had  chosen — 
I  mean  he  could  have  seen  lostan,  he  could  have 
spoken  for  the  girl  according  to  the  customs  of 
his  country  and  people ;  but  he  did  not.  Instead 
he  used  to  come  up  to  Calfholt  at  all  hours  of 
the  day,  sit  on  the  turf  wall  of  the  garth,  kick 
his  heels  there,  and  whistle  between  his  teeth. 
If  Gudrun  came  out  of  the  house  on  her  affairs 
he  looked  hard  at  her.  If  she  spoke  to  him,  he 
answered  shortly ;  if  she  said  nothing,  he  went 
on  whistling  between  his  teeth. 

Now  this  may  or  may  not  have  been  agree- 
able to  the  girl  herself,  and,  custom  of  country 


GUDRUN'S  AFFAIR  49 

or  no-custom  of  country,  girls  have  nothing  to 
say  against  admiration;  but  a  girl  is  consid- 
ered to  be  disgraced  by  behaviour  of  the  sort. 
Gudrun's  parents  were  much  offended,  and  her 
two  brothers  angry.  So  one  evening  when  Col, 
the  younger  of  the  brothers,  but  the  most  met- 
tlesome, came  home  and  saw  the  two  together, 
he  sent  Gudrun  into  the  house  and  had  a  word 
or  two  with  Sorle.  *'  You  are  doing  wrong  to 
our  family,  Sorle,  and  I  wish  you  would  stop 
it,''  he  said. 

Sorle  asked  him  what  he  meant,  and  put  Col 
in  a  heat.  ^'  You  know  very  well  what  I  mean. 
You  know  that  a  man  doesn't  come  and  hang 
about  a  house  all  day,  and  talk  to  a  girl  alone. 
You  will  get  her  made  a  by-word,  and  it's  a 
great  scandal.     So  will  you  stop  it  or  not?  " 

Sorle  looked  very  doggedly  at  the  hillside 
over  Col's  head  and  went  on  whistling. 

''  Do  you  hear  what  I  say?  "  Col  asked  him 
in  a  fume.  And  then  Sorle  stopped  whistling 
and  looked  at  him. 

*'  I  hear  you.  I  shall  do  what  seems  good  to 
me,"  he  said.  ''  Your  high  words  or  by-words 
make  no  difference  to  me.    So  there's  for  you.'' 

Col  seemed  to  hover  over  him,   as  if  he 


50  THOEGILS 

might  do  something  besides  talk.  Then  he 
thought  better  of  it.  ''  Have  it  as  you  please," 
he  said,  and  turned  on  his  heel. 

Next  day,  there  was  Sorle  again  on  the  wall, 
but  Gudrun  was  not  to  be  seen.  Col  would  not 
go  into  supper,  but  stayed  in  the  porch  watch- 
ing his  enemy.  When  it  grew  as  near  dark  as  it 
would  be,  Sorle  got  off  the  wall,  stretched  him- 
self and  turned  to  go  down  the  f ellside.  Col  fol- 
lowed him  at  a  good  pace.  He  had  a  bill  in  his 
hand. 

Sorle  did  not  look  back  or  hurry  himself  even 
when  he  heard  rapid  steps  behind  him.  Pres- 
ently Col  drew  level  with  him,  and  Sorle  glanced 
sideways  to  see  who  it  was.  He  was  still  whis- 
tling between  his  teeth.  Not  a  word  was  said 
between  them,  but  by-and-by  Col  lifted  his  bill 
and  hit  Sorle  in  the  neck  a  great  blow.  He  fell 
like  a  stone  and  never  moved  again.  Col  laid 
him  out  in  the  pathway  and  the  bill  upon  him, 
and  went  home. 

Gudrun  was  waiting  for  him  though  she  did 
not  say  so,  or  indeed  say  anything  until  he  did. 
Col  said,  **  I  have  settled  an  old  affair  this 
evening.  You  won't  be  troubled  with  Sorle 's 
company  from  this  night  onwards." 


GUDRUN'S  AFFAIR  51 

Gudrun  said,  *^  His  coming  was  nothing  to 
me,  so  his  going  will  be  nothing;  but  per- 
haps you  know  that  he  was  a  thing-man  of 
Asgrim  Ellida-Grimsson's  and  a  close  friend  of 
his.'' 

If  Col  had  known  it,  he  hadn't  thought  of  it. 
He  shrugged  his  shoulders,  but  said  nothing. 
Gudrun  took  the  conversation  in  hand  and  told 
him  what  to  do.  ^*  I  advise  you  to  go  to  Tread- 
holt  as  soon  as  you  can,  and  get  help  from  Thor- 
gils.  He  can  hardly  refuse  you,  I  think,  and 
will  be  a  great  strength  to  us  if  there  is  a  law- 
suit about  this  or  any  reprisal.  You  don't  want 
the  house  burned,  I  suppose,  or  to  be  made  an 
outlaw  for  a  block  of  wood  like  Sorle."  Col 
said  nothing,  but  intended  to  go. 

Shortly  afterwards,  in  the  evening,  somebody 
knocked  at  the  door  of  Treadholt.  Thorey 
opened  it  and  was  pleased  to  see  her  foster 
brother.  ''  Come  in,  Col,"  she  said.  ''  The 
men  are  at  table  and  I  am  going  to  serve  them 
this  moment." 

Col  was  out  of  breath  and  said  that  he 
couldn't  come  in.  Thorey  looked  quickly  at 
him.    "  What  is  it  I    What  have  you  done?  " 

**  I  can't  come  in  until  I  have  told  you  what 


52  THORGILS 

brings  me/'  he  said;  and  then  he  told  her  the 
truth. 

Thorey  listened,  and  looked  serious ;  but  she 
did  not  seem  angry.  **  I'll  do  what  I  can,"  she 
said,  **  and  when  I  can;  but  it  won't  be  easy 
with  Thorgils.  He'll  make  up  his  mind  for 
himself,  and  as  soon  as  he  knows  what  the 
matter  is.  You  had  better  go  behind  the  hall 
curtains  and  wait  there.  I  cannot  speak  to  him 
about  it  until  bedtime."    Col  took  her  advice. 

Thorey  went  back  into  the  hall  and  Thorgils 
leaned  out  of  the  high  seat  and  took  her  by  the 
arm.  **  What  have  you  done  with  the  meat,  my 
child  ?  What  is  it  all  about  ?  ' '  She  laughed  and 
said  that  it  was  all  ready. 

But  still  Thorgils  was  looking  at  her.  **  I 
never  saw  you  with  such  red  cheeks — or  not 
since  I  saw  you  first,"  he  said.  **  Now  there's 
something  in  this." 

*  ^  A  wise  man  knows  his  own  wife, ' '  she  said ; 
'*  but  the  wife  knows  more  of  the  fire  than  the 
wisest  man.  Let  me  go,  and  you  shall  have 
your  supper." 

That  was  all  until  bedtime ;  but  then  she  came 
and  sat  by  him  and  told  him  the  truth.  Thorgils 
heard  her  without  interrupting.    **  That  is  how 


GUDRUN'S  AFFAIE  53 

it  stands  now  at  Calf  holt/'  she  said.  **  Will 
you  please  to  help  them!  Will  you  do  it  for 
my  sake?  " 

Thorgils  gave  her  a  kiss.  **  I  will  do  it  for 
your  sake,  and  for  Col's  sake  too.  He  is  a  fine 
fellow,  and  everybody  speaks  well  of  him.  Let 
him  go  to  bed  now,  and  come  to  bed  yourself — • 
and  to-morrow  I'll  go  to  Calf  holt." 

And  this  was  what  he  did.  He  rode  up  to 
Calfholt  early  in  the  morning,  and  found  them 
very  much  perturbed.  They  hailed  him  gladly  ; 
but  he  took  it  all  as  a  matter  of  course.  He  took 
lostan  apart  and  told  him  what  he  proposed. 

**  You  shall  all  flit  over  to  Treadholt,  where 
there  is  plenty  of  room  for  you.  You  had  better 
begin  at  once.  Set  the  women  to  work  indoors, 
and  do  you  and  the  thralls  round  up  the  live 
stock.  You  will  have  Asgrim  here  before  the 
day  is  over.  Bum  what  you  can't  take  away,  or 
he'll  have  it.  He  will  sue  Col's  outlawry  at  the 
Thing,  I  don't  doubt — ^but  that  is  some  way  off 
yet.  Now  do  you  as  I  advise,  and  don't  be  long 
about  it  either."  lostan  thanked  him  heartily. 
**  I  don't  suppose  you  understand  what  a  help 
you  are  being  to  me  and  mine,"  he  said;  but 
Thorgils  answered  him,  **  Few  words  are  best." 


54  THOEGILS 

Gudrun,  who  had  always  been  rather  afraid 
of  Thorgils,  kept  out  of  his  way,  making  herself 
very  busy  in  the  house ;  but  his  eye  caught  hers 
in  the  course  of  the  morning,  and  she  came  up 
to  receive  punishment.  He  did  not  say  very 
much  to  her.  *  *  You  had  a  good  deal  to  do  with 
this,  I  fancy,  but  you  didn't  know  what  you 
were  bringing  about.  I  daresay  you  think  it 
rather  fine  to  have  men  shedding  blood  for  your 
sake — but  it's  a  bad  way  of  getting  a  husband 
and  a  household  of  your  own.  Now  you  are 
coming  to  live  with  Thorey  there  must  be  no 
more  sheeps-eyeing  with  the  likes  of  Sorle." 
Gudrun  said  that  she  hadn't  done  anything. 
**  No,"  said  Thorgils,  **  you  did  nothing;  but 
you  allowed  things  to  be  done  which  were  not 
convenient. ' ' 

The  stock  was  oif  the  homestead  before  din- 
ner-time, and  the  household  gear  was  brought 
over  on  horseback  before  they  took  anything  to 
eat.  After  dinner  they  fired  the  stacks.  Thor- 
gils with  some  of  his  people  remained  to  see  that 
done,  and  while  they  were  in  the  midst  of  the 
sm_other  they  heard  horses  come  into  the  croft, 
and  then  saw  weapons  shining.  There  seemed 
to  be  a  good  many  men  there ;  but  Thorgils  took 


GUDRUN'S  AFFAIR  55 

no  notice.  He  had  Earth-house-prey  with  him, 
and  his  men  all  had  weapons. 

One  or  two  faces  looked  through  the  smoke, 
but  it  was  some  time  before  anybody  came  up. 

By-and-by  a  man  walked  his  horse  through, 
heading  a  troop  of  some  half  a  dozen  more.  He 
was  a  broad-shouldered,  round-faced,  brown- 
bearded  man,  with  a  scarlet  cloak  over  his 
shoulders,  thrown  back  to  leave  his  arm  free. 
He  wore  a  metal  helm  with  wings  to  it,  and 
looked  to  be  a  man  of  forty  or  thereabouts.  He 
and  Thorgils  just  looked  at  each  other,  but  not 
for  very  long. 

Then  the  stranger  said,  '*  There  has  been  a 
flitting  here." 

''  Yes,"  said  Thorgils,  '^  it  looks  very  much 
like  that." 

**  And  reason  good,"  said  the  other,  **  by 
what  I  hear." 

*  ^  Nobody  leaves  home  without  a  cause, ' '  said 
Thorgils. 

After  a  little  the  stranger  asked  him,  **  Might 
you  know  where  the  folk  have  gone?  "  Thorgils 
said  that  he  couldn't  say. 

*'  You  mean  that  you  won't  say?  " 

'*  I  mean  what  I  do  say,"  said  Thorgils. 


56  THORGILS 

*'  Well,"  said  the  stranger,  *^  we  shall  know 
soon  enough  whether  Master  Col  is  lucky  in  his 
friends."    Thorgils  made  no  answer  to  that. 

The  stranger  did  not  know  what  to  do  next; 
but  felt  that  he  must  do  something.  His  men 
behind  him,  no  doubt,  expected  it  of  him. 

'^  You  are  Thorgils,  Scarleg's  stepson,  are 
you  not?  " 

**  They  call  me  Thorgils  of  Treadholt  in 
these  days,"  said  Thorgils. 

**  And  lostan  here  was  a  friend  of  yours?  " 

*'  He  is  a  friend  of  mine." 

.*'  And  you  stay  here?  " 

*^  I  stay  here." 

The  stranger  stared  at  him  for  a  little  while 
longer,  then  dug  his  horse  in  the  flank  and 
turned  him  sharply.  His  men  made  way  for 
him,  and  he  said  something  to  them  as  he  went 
through ;  but  Thorgils  did  not  hear  what  it  was. 
They  all  rode  off. 

Afterwards  he  was  told  that  the  man  in  the 
red  cloak  was  Asgrim  Ellida-Grimsson.  He 
said  that  he  had  thought  as  much. 

The  next  time  he  met  that  fine  man  was  at  the 
Thing.  He  himself  rode  thither  with  a  great 
following;  he  had  forty-five  men  with  him,  all 


GUDRUN'S  AFFAIR  57 

armed.  Asgrim  came  with  forty  men,  and  there 
was  a  great  suit  set  in  motion  for  the  outlawry 
of  Col.  Thorgils  took  no  part  in  it,  but  acted  as 
if  he  knew  nothing  at  all  about  it.  So  Asgrim 
carried  his  suit,  and  Col  was  outlawed  for  man- 
slaughter. Thorgils  rode  home  again  and  told 
them  the  news.  By  his  advice,  and  under  his 
protection.  Col  did  not  leave  the  country,  but 
behaved  as  if  there  was  nothing  against  him. 
He  went  about  with  Thorgils  to  all  the  meetings 
of  that  spring  and  summer,  but  with  such  force 
at  hand  that  Asgrim  did  not  care  to  do  any- 
thing. The  whole  of  the  country  took  sides, 
and  there  were  affrays  here  and  there,  which 
made  some  of  them  timid,  who  lived  in  lonely 
places.  lostan  himself  didn't  much  like  it,  and 
told  Thorgils  that  he  would  pay  for  the 
slaughter  sooner  than  strifes  and  divisions 
should  go  on.  Thorgils  said  that  he  couldn't 
prevent  him,  but  that  no  money  need  be  paid  on 
his  account. 

However,  money  was  finally  paid  by  the 
people  of  the  country  both  for  the  slaughter  of 
Sorle  and  the  inlawing  of  Col.  It  was  paid,  and 
Asgrim  took  it.  He  asked,  Had  Thorgils  paid 
anything!    No,  they  said,  Thorgils  had  refused 


58  THORGILS 

to  pay.  *'  He  will  pay  one  of  these  days,"  said 
Asgrim,  **  and  will  have  to  pay  dear."  This 
was  told  to  Thorgils,  as  such  things  always  are 
told.  Thorgils  was  angry  that  any  money  had 
been  paid  at  all.  **  The  man  terrifies  you  by 
his  broad  shoulders  and  great  words.  He  is  like 
a  young  cuckoo,  and  you  are  the  wagtails  who 
quest  all  over  the  garths  to  find  stuff  for  his 
maw  and  stop  his  squawking.  Like  enough  you 
will  pay  dear — but  you  will  get  no  money  out  of 
me  to  fill  him  up. ' ' 

So  Col  was  inlawed,  lostan  went  home  to 
Calf  holt,  and  there  was  peace  in  the  country; 
but  Asgrim  was  always  girding  against  Thor- 
gils and  saying  what  would  be  done  to  him  if 
he  didn't  mind  what  he  was  about. 


CHAPTER    VII 


THOKSDOOM 


THEY  say  that  when  Christendom  was 
carried  into  Iceland,  Thorgils  heard  of  it 
and  was  one  of  the  first  to  accept  of  it. 
I  don't  know  how  that  may  be,  for  the  books 
make  out  that  Thorwald  Codransson  and  a 
Bishop  called  Frederick  brought  it  into  the 
Northmen's  Quarter  first  of  all,  and  that  it  did 
not  come  South  for  a  year  or  more  after  that. 
Let  that  be  as  it  may,  it  was  preached  to  the 
Southland  men  in  due  season,  and  Thorgils 
went  to  hear  what  was  said.  He  had  always 
been  a  religious  man;  Thor's  priest  and  Thor's 
temple  knew  that,  for  he  gave  liberally  every 
year  when  he  was  at  home,  and  they  had  come 
to  count  on  him  for  a  good  portion  of  their  live- 
lihood. But  now,  being  at  the  Thing,  where  the 
preaching  was  to  be,  he  went  to  hear  it  and  to 
see  what  was  done.  Most  of  the  great  men  were 
there,    and    Asgrim    Ellida-Grimsson    among 

59 


60  THORGILS 

them.  He  and  Thorgils  spoke  to  each  other 
when  they  met  now,  but  never  had  much  to  say. 

The  preaching  was  on  a  hill-top  near  the 
Thing-stead,  and  they  had  made  an  altar  up 
there,  where  the  Bishop  burned  incense,  and 
said  mass  in  his  robes.  They  sang  the  canticles 
in  Latin  too,  and  praised  God  thereby.  After 
that  a  chieftain  preached,  not  the  Bishop,  be- 
cause he  had  not  the  language  of  the  people. 
Thorgils  gave  him  great  attention,  and  was 
thoughtful  when  he  had  said  what  he  had  to 
say. 

There  was  much  conversation  afterwards. 
Thorgils  said  that  it  seemed  to  him  a  good  re- 
ligion, and  much  more  reasonable  than  the  old 
one.  **  You  have  to  pay  for  what  you  get,''  he 
said.  **  That  is  a  law  of  the  world.  But  it 
costs  me  nothing  to  give  a  bullock  here  and  there 
to  Thor,  whereas  it  might  cost  me  an  inordi- 
nate deal  to  have  to  take  thought  what  I  did,  or 
what  I  said,  or  what  I  imagined.  But  if  the 
thing  you  gain  is  worth  the  price — ^how  then? 
A  man  is  a  fool  not  to  pay  it." 

Asgrim  said  it  was  all  a  parcel  of  lies ;  but 
Thorgils  replied  that  you  could  only  tell  that 
by  finding  out.    **  You  know  no  more  about  it 


THORSDOOM  61 

than  I  do,"  he  said.  ''  And  how  can  you  say 
that  it  is  made  up  of  lies,  or  I  that  it  is  sooth, 
until  we  try  it?    It  sounds  likely  to  me.'' 

After  that  he  went  to  see  the  Bishop  and  his 
friends  to  find  out  just  what  he  had  to  do  if  he 
became  a  Christian.  They  told  him  that  he 
must  love  his  neighbour.  **  Well,''  he  said, ''  I 
bear  no  ill-will  to  anybody,  but  I  like  some  men 
better  than  others."  ''  No  harm  in  that,"  he 
was  told,  ''  but  you  must  love  nobody  worse 
than  you  do  yourself."  *'  Ah,"  says  Thorgils, 
**  you  mean  that  I  must  give  them  equal  meas- 
ure? "  ''  That's  it."  Thorgils  said  that  he 
could  do  that.  *'  And  what  else  do  you  expect 
of  me?  "  Then  they  expounded  the  Christian 
doctrine  as  they  understood  it  themselves,  and 
Thorgils  listened  attentively.  He  said  that  he 
would  think  about  it,  but  wished  to  know  what 
became  of  Thor  and  the  rest  of  the  old  gods. 
''  You  don't  kill  the  gods  by  setting  up  another 
one,"  he  said.  **  No,"  he  was  answered,  **  that 
may  be.  But  you  find  out  that  they  are  not  what 
you  thought  them,  no  friends  of  yours.  Now  we 
say  that  they  are  malignant,  and  think  them 
probably  fiends."  Thorgils  said,  ''  A  bad 
nam,e  will  hang  a  dog,  and  may  do  a  man  harm; 


62  THORGILS 

but  I  should  like  to  know  what  Thor  would  think 
of  being  called  a  fiend/'  **  No  matter  what  he 
thinks/'  they  said.  **  But  if  you  become  a 
Christian  you  cease  to  serve  Thor  or  to  pay  any 
attention  to  him — and  he  won't  like  it."  ^'  I'm 
sure  he  will  not,"  said  Thorgils. 

He  talked  it  over  with  his  friends,  saying  that 
he  was  inclined  towards  it.  It  seemed  reason- 
able, he  thought.  The  old  faith  had  grown  up 
by  degrees,  nobody  knew  how;  one  thing  had 
brought  about  another  until  now  there  was  a 
great  stack  of  doctrine  in  front  of  your  door, 
so  high  that  you  couldn't  see  the  weather.  But 
here  was  a  new  thing  all  compact  and  sizeable. 
You  can  handle  it  and  estimate  it.  It  seemed  to 
fit  in  with  experience — which  the  old  doctrine 
did  not. 

The  end  of  it  was  that  he  chose  to  be  chris- 
tened, and  was  followed  into  the  water  by  four 
or  five  chieftains.  Asgrim  Ellida-Grimsson 
was  not  one  of  them  at  this  time.  After  them 
a  number  of  their  friends  and  dependents  went. 
Loft  was  one,  and  lostan  another.  Then  they 
rode  home,  and  when  the  Bishop  was  handy  to 
Treadholt,  Thorey  was  christened,  and  Gudrun 
her  foster  sister  with  her.    Thorey  had  given 


THORSDOOM  63 

birth  to  her  first  child  by  this  time,  a  girl;  and 
she  was  christened  Thorny. 

These  were  great  things,  and  greatly  resented 
by  Thor's  priest  and,  as  it  seems,  by  Thor  him- 
self. Thorgils  had  dreams  about  Thor.  One 
night  he  seemed  to  wake  out  of  his  good  sleep ; 
there  stood  a  big  man  by  the  bedside,  twinkling 
his  heavy  eyes  at  him.  Thorgils  thought  that 
he  lay  looking  at  the  apparition,  not  saying  any- 
thing, but  guessing  in  his  heart  that  this  was 
Thor. 

Thor  spoke  to  him  in  a  heavy  and  grumbling 
voice:  ^*  What  have  you  done,  and  by  what  ad- 
vice, to  leave  me  in  the  lurch  and  treat  me  with 
indignity?  When  I  trusted  in  you,  then  you 
failed  me.  But  you  will  have  the  worst  of  the 
battle,  for  I  have  a  long  memory;  and  it  will 
go  hard  with  you  before  I  have  done." 

''  God  will  help  me,"  Thorgils  said— or  so 
he  thought.  Then  he  turned  over  and  went  to 
sleep  again,  and  when  he  awoke  in  the  morning, 
though  he  tried,  he  could  not  remember  what 
had  been  said. 

The  first  thing  he  was  told  when  he  went  out 
of  doors  was  that  his  boar  was  dead— found  so 
in  the  yard.    He  could  see  no  marks  on  him,  no 


64  THORGILS 

sign  of  disease;  but  he  had  the  animal  buried, 
would  not  allow  him  to  be  cut  up,  or  have  any 
use  made  of  him. 

He  told  nobody  about  his  dream,  and  passed 
over  the  matter  of  the  boar's  death.  But  he 
dreamed  again  before  many  days,  and  again 
of  Thor.  This  time  Thor  looked  like  Eric  the 
Red,  with  the  same  snarling  mouth  showing 
red  under  his  beard,  and  the  same  little  blinking, 
angry  eyes.  **  You  know  me,*'  the  dream  said, 
**  and  you  know  that  I  could  as  easily  choke  you 
as  your  old  hog.  Look  to  yourself,  then;  for 
you  and  I  have  long  accounts  to  settle. '' 

**  God  will  settle  our  accounts,  Thor,''  was 
the  answer  of  Thorgils,  and  Thor  said,  **  See 
to  your  beasts,"  before  he  disappeared. 

Sure  enough,  he  lost  a  bullock,  which  all  of  a 
sudden  began  to  stand  and  stare,  and  tremble 
all  over,  with  the  sweat  shining  on  his  coat. 
Then  he  pitched  head  forward  on  to  his  head, 
and  there  was  an  end  of  him.  They  buried  him 
beside  the  boar.  Thorgils  said  that  some  enemy 
was  abroad  with  a  grudge  against  him,  and  that 
he  should  sit  up  with  the  cattle  for  a  night  or 
two.  And  so  he  did.  What  happened  nobody 
knew,  for  he  wouldn't  tell;  but  Thorey,  who 


THORSDOOM  65 

lay  awake  for  a  long  time  listening,  heard  him 
singing  out  there,  and  then  heard  him  stop  sing- 
ing. Then  she  thought  that  she  heard  voices  in 
debate;  and  presently  Thorgils  began  to  sing 
again — but  not  quite  the  same  tune.  She  fell 
asleep,  woke  again  and  listened,  heard  nothing, 
and  looked  out  of  the  window.  She  saw  Thor- 
gils sitting  on  the  turf  wall,  very  upright,  star- 
ing up  into  the  sky.  His  face  looked  white  in  the 
moonlight,  and  she  saw  Earth-house-prey 
gleaming  on  his  knees,  like  a  stream  of  water. 
She  went  back  to  bed,  telling  herself  that  no- 
body would  best  a  man  like  Thorgils. 

In  the  morning  he  came  into  her  bed,  very 
cold  and  with  nothing  to  say.  His  answer  was 
always,  Nothing.  *^  Did  you  see  anything?  '' 
Nothing.  *<  Did  the  cattle  take  any  harm?  " 
Nothing.  '^  Did  you  hear  anything!  "  Noth- 
ing. He  shivered  a  little,  and  looked  blue  about 
the  hands,  cheek-bones  and  shoulder-blades. 
His  knees  were  quite  blue,  and  his  feet  white. 
But  no  more  cattle  died,  and  Thorgils  thought 
that  the  battle  was  over.  Thorey  told  Gudrun 
that  her  husband  was  the  bravest  of  men  as  he 
was  one  of  the  strongest.  If  he  said  that  he 
saw  or  heard  nothing  he  did  not  mean  that  she 


66  THOKGILS 

was  to  believe  it — and  she  did  not  believe  it; 
he  meant  that  he  had  nothing  to  tell  her  about  it. 
*^  He  might  tell  it  yon,  I  think,''  said  Gudrnn, 
*  *  or  yon  might  have  it  out  of  him  if  you  chose. ' ' 
**  I  don't  choose,"  Thorey  replied.  **  He 
knows  best." 


CHAPTER   VIII 

THE    CALL    FROM    ERIC    THE    RED 

SOME  years  now  passed  over  Treadholt, 
prosperous  years  with  no  ill-fortune 
threatening.  Thorny,  the  eldest  child  of 
Thorgils  and  Thorey,  was  seven  years  old; 
there  had  been  a  boy,  Thorlaf ,  too,  who  had  not 
lived  to  be  five ;  and  Thorey  had  hopes  of  an- 
other. Just  then  there  came  a  messenger  from 
the  sea,  a  man  who  brought  news  of  Eric 
the  Red.  That  great  adventurer  had  been  in 
many  lands  since  Thorgils  had  been  in  his  com- 
pany long  ago ;  he  had  been  in  Russia,  and  since 
that  to  Greenland.  Now  he  was  gone  to  Green- 
land again,  with  a  large  convoy,  and  asked 
Thorgils  to  join  him.  **  Eric  bid  me  remind 
you,  Thorgils,  of  your  promise  made  to  him 
when  you  parted  on  the  Norway  seas,''  the 
messenger  said.  *  *  He  did  not  think,  and  I  don't 
think,  that  you  would  deny  it.  He  is  bound  for 
a  fine  country  where  he  thinks  of  making  a 

67 


68  THORGILS 

settlement ;  and  he  says  that  if  he  can  be  sure 
of  you  he  will  be  in  a  fair  way  to  found  a  king- 
dom. Do  you  come  out,  with  what  company  you 
can  form,  and  you  shall  choose  land  where  you 
will. ' '  Thorgils  said  that  Eric  was  building  on 
a  light  foundation.  *^  He  has  the  promise  of  a 
lad,  and  he  wants  to  risk  upon  it  the  welfare  of 
a  man  and  his  family.  If  his  building  falls  he 
is  very  little  the  worse — but  what  about  me?  " 
He  would  not  give  an  answer  one  way  or  the 
other,  and  saw  the  messenger  off  the  place  with 
no  word  more. 

But  it  stayed  in  his  mind  for  all  that,  and  next 
spring,  when  Eadwine  his  friend  came  to  see 
him,  with  a  shipload  of  Greenland  stuff  for  him 
— ^not  only  furs,  but  gold  as  well,  and  amber  and 
iron — Thorgils  began  to  be  serious  about  the 
message  he  had  had,  and  talked  to  Thorey 
about  it. 

She  was  with  child  and  unwilling ;  but  she  did 
not  refuse.  **  It  is  a  great  risk  to  flit  so  far," 
was  all  she  said. 

Thorg-ils  said  that  certainly  it  was  a  risk. 
*^  Eric  has  asked  for  me,''  he  said,  *'  and  I 
think  that  I  ought  to  go.  You  and  I  have  never 
been  parted,  and  never  had  a  bad  word  between 


CALL  FROM  ERIC  THE  RED        69 

us  from  the  beginning,  nor  shall  we  have  one 
now.  You  shall  stay  here  and  mind  the  house, 
with  friends  to  help  you — and  we  have  many 
friends.    But  for  my  part,  I  shall  go.'' 

Thorey  was  troubled.  She  thought  he  was 
for  once  making  a  mistake ;  she  told  him  so — ^but 
then  she  put  her  hand  on  his  knee.  *  *  I  shall  go 
with  you,  if  go  you  must,"  she  said.  ''  I  thought 
you  would,''  he  told  her,  and  was  evidently 
pleased.  Then  he  began  with  his  preparations 
and  sought  about  to  make  up  a  good  party 
among  his  friends.  Thorlaf,  who  was  a  son  of 
Eadwine  and  had  been  left  in  his  charge  by  his 
father,  was  to  come;  Col  and  Starkad,  the  two 
foster  brothers  of  Thorey,  now  settled  in  home- 
steads of  their  own,  chose  to  join  with  Thorgils 
rather  than  with  their  father.  Gudrun,  who 
was  fond  of  Thorgils  and  anxious  for  his  good 
opinion,  said  that  she  would  go.  They  took  ten 
thralls  altogether,  and  Thorarin  the  reeve  of 
Treadholt.  With  all  these  people  Thorgils 
took  a  quantity  of  stock  too.  It  was  to  be  a 
great  flitting.  He  put  Treadholt  and  all  the 
lands  which  went  with  it  into  the  keeping  of 
Haering  his  half-brother,  and  his  money  with 
it,  feeling  that  he  could  trust  him  with  so  much. 


70  THORGILS 

Finally,  when  he  had  made  all  his  preparations, 
at  the  last  minute  lostan  came  down  from  Calf- 
holt  and  told  him  that  he  had  made  up  his  mind 
to  break  his  home  up,  and  share  fortunes. 
**  The  countryside  will  never  be  the  same  again 
with  you  gone, ' '  he  said.  * '  I  bring  twelve  souls 
with  me,  good  company  all  of  us."  *'  We  shall 
want  a  big  ship,"  Thorgils  said;  ''  bigger  than 
I  thought.    But  I  won 't  deny  you  in  this. ' ' 

He  went  far  to  get  a  ship  to  his  liking,  but 
found  one  in  Olvus  which  pleased  him.  She  was 
both  roomy  and  strongly-built.  She  lay  in  the 
creek  there ;  and  as  soon  as  the  bargaining  was 
done,  and  all  preparations  concluded,  he  moved 
out  all  his  household,  and  stayed  with  a  friend 
of  his  called  Thorodd  at  Hialla.  It  was  fully 
late  in  the  season ;  but  he  hoped  for  a  good  pass- 
age. Unfortunately  it  happened  that  Thorny 
his  daughter  fell  ill,  and  it  became  a  question 
whether  she  should  be  taken  or  not.  She  was 
nine  years  old,  a  very  pretty  child. 

He  waited  three  days,  but  dared  not  wait  any 
longer.  He  told  Thorey  that  they  must  leave 
her  behind.  She  looked  at  him  with  her  eyes 
full  of  trouble,  but  raised  none  of  it  in  speech. 
*'  What  you  think  best,"  she  said,  **  must  be 


CALL  FEOM  ERIC  THE  RED        71 

so.''  So  Thorny  was  left  with  Thorodd  to  fos- 
ter and  a  good  portion  settled  on  her  in  case  she 
were  to  marry  before  her  people  came  home. 
Thorodd  prophesied  good  fortune  for  her,  but 
Thorgils  was  heavy  when  the  time  came  for 
leaving  Iceland.  **  If  I  had  not  great  faith  in 
Eric  I  wouldn't  go  even  now.  Yet  a  promise  is 
a  thing  to  be  kept." 

**  It  isn't  easy  to  judge  a  great  man,"  Thor- 
odd said.  **  You  are  backing  your  own  judg- 
ment, after  all,  rather  than  Eric  the  Red's." 

*^  Yes,"  said  Thorgils,  **  I  believe  in  him — 
but  I  own  that  I  would  give  a  good  deal  to  be 
out  of  this  adventure." 

*'  It  is  not  too  late,  neighbour  ..."  Thorodd 
began  to  say;  but  Thorgils  frowned. 

*  *  It  is  too  late  for  me  to  go  back  on  my  bond," 
he  said.    *  *  I  expect  I  shall  go  through  with  it. ' ' 

''  I  don't  doubt  you  will,"  Thorodd  said;  and 
that  was  how  they  parted. 

They  all  went  on  board,  and  waited  for  a  wind 
to  take  them  out  of  the  firth.  lostan  had  all  the 
ship  before  the  mast  for  his  party;  Thorgils 
with  his  took  the  after-deck,  but  Gudrun, 
Starkad  and  Col  chose  to  lodge  with  him.  Each 
kept  pretty  much  to  their  own  part  of  the  ship, 


72  THORGILS 

and  lostan's  company,  which  was  in  high  spir- 
its, made  a  great  chatter.  Thorgils  felt  the  re- 
sponsibility on  him,  and  remained  sunk  in  de- 
jection. He  still  had  dreams  at  night,  and  it 
seemed  to  him  that  Thor  would  never  let  him 
alone. 

Sometimes  he  stood  at  his  bedside  and  loaded 
him  with  reproaches;  sometimes  he  seemed  to 
be  in  a  strange  country,  and  Thor  beside  him 
showing  him  the  terrors  of  it.  One  of  his  dreams 
was  that  he  and  Thor  stood  on  a  wild  shore, 
where  there  were  black  cliffs,  and  a  high  sea 
breaking  against  them.  The  cloud  wrack  was 
heavy  and  low  down,  driven  by  a  great  wind  off 
the  sea.  It  came  on  dense  drifts  of  fog  which, 
when  it  parted,  showed  him  wide  stretches  of 
water  white  with  foam.  He  saw  a  ship  helpless 
in  the  storm  driving  fast  upon  the  rocks.  Thor 
said,  *  *  In  just  such  a  strait  will  you  be  before 
long,  with  a  cold  and  lonely  death  before  you, 
unless  you  turn  to  me  again.  Look  to  it. ' '  And 
Thorgils  thought  that  his  eyeballs  grew  hot  and 
smarted  with  the  rage  which  possessed  him  as 
he  answered  the  fiend :  ' '  Be  off  with  you  and 
tempt  me  not.  The  Son  of  God  is  my  friend, 
Who  spent  His  manhood  and  His  blood  for  the 


CALL  FROM  ERIC  THE  RED        73 

sake  of  us.  He  will  be  with  us  on  our  journey, 
and  if  we  are  to  perish  we  shall  reach  Him  the 
sooner."  Then  he  awoke  and  saw  that  Thorey 
was  looking  at  him.  ''  You  have  been  dream- 
ing," she  said.  He  confessed  it.  *'  Not  hap- 
pily, ' '  she  said.  ' '  No,  not  happily, ' '  said  Thor- 
gils,  and  told  her  the  dream. 

She  said  that  she  did  not  like  it,  and  should 
never  have  dared  go  on  in  the  face  of  such  an 
omen  if  it  had  happened  to  herself.  Thorgils 
said  that  it  did  not  do  to  give  way  before  such 
things.  '*  I  shall  never  give  in  to  Thor  or  to 
any  of  them.  That  would  be  a  baseness  not  to 
be  thought  of."  ''  You  are  quite  right,"  she 
said,  **  but  you  will  need  your  courage.  I  won't 
answer  for  some  of  them  if  Thor  shows  himself 
to  them.  They  aren't  all  like  you."  Thorgils 
said  that  he  wasn't  afraid  of  them. 


CHAPTER    IX 


TROUBLE    AT    SEA 


THE  wind  came  fair  off  the  land  as  they 
sailed  out  of  the  firth  and  reached  the 
open  sea.  Their  course  was  now  N.  N. 
W.,  and  the  wind  holding,  they  were  soon  out 
of  sight  of  land.  After  a  week  of  prosperous 
journey,  however,  the  wind  gave  out,  and  they 
drifted  helpless  and  aimless  over  the  back  of  the 
sea:  and  it  became  anxious  work.  They  had 
provisions  for  a  fortnight,  which  should  have 
been  ample;  but  lostan's  party  had  little  fore- 
thought and  feasted  high  and  drank  deep. 
Thorgils  saw  that  he  would  have  to  interfere 
very  soon,  and  put  the  whole  ship  on  strict  ra- 
tions. But  he  had  other  and  worse  anxieties. 
He  had  started  late  in  the  season,  counting,  as 
he  fairly  might  do,  on  a  steady  wind.  But  if  he 
was  to  be  much  delayed  he  would  scarcely  reach 
Greenland  before  the  winter,  which  he  kne\\r 

74 


TROUBLE  AT  SEA  75 

began  early.    Meantime  there  was  nothing  to  be 
done  but  wait  for  a  wind. 

He  gave  lostan  a  hint  that  they  had  best  be 
careful  with  their  stores.  lostan  was  surprised. 
''  We  trusted  to  you  entirely/'  he  said.  ''  There 
should  have  been  more  than  enough;  and  it's 
rather  hard  to  have  such  a  thing  sprung  on  us 
when  we  are  out  at  sea,  and  no  means  of  help- 
ing ourselves.  You  had  better  leave  it  to  me," 
he  said.  '*  If  you  go  and  terrify  my  people  I 
don't  say  what  might  come  of  it."  Thorgils 
left  it  so ;  but  could  not  see  that  there  was  much 
difference  in  the  ways  of  the  f oredeck.  He  had 
not  thought  losan  so  weak  with  men  as  he 
proved  to  be;  but  worse  than  lostan  was  his 
,  wife  Thorgerd,  a  strong,  big  woman  with  the 
ways  of  a  man.  She  was  lostan 's  master  in 
most  things,  and  difficult  to  deal  with. 

After  a  week  or  more  of  dead  calm  it  began 
to  blow  from  the  South-west,  and  raised  heavy 
seas.  The  ship  was  overfreighted,  and  Thorgils 
thought  that  they  would  have  to  sacrifice  some 
of  their  stock.  They  had  cattle  on  board,  be- 
tween decks,  and  as  fast  as  they  died  Thorgils 
had  them  thrown  out.  Thorgerd  raised  a  great 
bother  about  it,  saying  it  was  wicked  to  sacri- 


76  THORGILS 

fice  good  food.  **  If  you  would  sacrifice  an 
ox  to  Thor/^  she  said,  *'  there  would  be 
some  sense  in  it.  Many  of  us  are  thinking  that 
we  are  paying  too  dear  for  your  new  God.'' 
Thorgils  sent  her  away ;  but  she  grumbled  very 
freely.  She  ate  and  drank  like  a  man  at  this 
time,  and  used  to  be  very  noisy  and  insolent. 

lostan  was  cast  down  by  sea-sickness,  with 
many  of  the  others.  Starkad  and  Col  were  just 
as  bad.  lostan 's  son  Thorarin,  a  young  man 
of  twenty,  was  the  most  useful  of  the  company. 
Thorey,  who  was  nearing  her  time,  lay  mostly 
in  bed. 

Now  they  had  had  two  months  of  stormy 
weather,  and  were  distressed  for  want  of  water. 
The  seas  ran  high,  and  seemed  bare  of  life. 
They  met  no  other  vessel,  and  saw  no  sign  of 
land.  Thorgils  hardly  left  the  helm,  night  or 
day,  except  for  an  hour  at  a  time,  when  he  dared 
leave  it  to  Thorarin.  It  was  hard  to  get  the 
thralls  to  move  about  in  such  weather,  with 
green  seas  sweeping  the  deck.  Two  or  three 
were  washed  overboard,  and  nearly  all  the  cattle 
had  perished.  Thorgils  had  made  up  his  mind 
that  it  was  all  over  with  them  unless  the  storm 
should  abate  within  three  days. 


TROUBLE  AT  SEA  77 

It  did  abate,  by  good  fortune.  They  were 
able  to  correct  their  course,  and  get  things  ship- 
shape again ;  but  still  there  was  no  sight  of  the 
land.  Thorgils  made  the  strictest  rules  for  diet. 
He  divided  up  everything  that  they  had,  and 
himself  gave  out  the  daily  rations  to  everybody 
on  board.  It  was  well  that  he  did,  for  they  had 
yet  another  three  weeks  at  sea. 

It  was  cold  weather  now,  and  though  the  wind 
had  died  away,  the  sea  ran  high  in  great  rollers. 
There  seemed  to  be  a  great  current,  too,  set- 
ting to  the  South-west.  They  saw  their  first 
iceberg  at  this  time,  and  at  first  hailed  it  for  the 
mainland.  The  sea  was  breaking  upon  it.  They 
saw  a  bear  walking  about  on  a  flat  shelf ;  and 
high  up  on  the  ice-cliffs  of  it  clouds  of  sea-birds. 
Some  of  these  they  managed  to  shoot  with  their 
bows.  Then,  when  they  did  actually  see  land, 
they  believed  for  a  long  time  that  it  was  another 
iceberg.  It  looked  just  the  same :  all  snowslopes 
and  green  ice. 

It  began  to  blow  again  when  they  had  been 
nearly  three  months  at  sea,  but  were  in  sight  of 
the  land.  They  made  out  that  they  could  see  the 
Western  shores  of  Greenland.  The  storm  grew 
in  intensity,  and  one  night  when  it  was  at  its 


78  THORGILS 

highest  the  main-mast  carried  away,  and  they 
were  helpless.  That  night  they  came  ashore 
upon  the  rocks  and  had  to  remain  in  the  utmost 
peril  until  daylight. 

It  was  a  time  of  wild  alarm  for  all  hands. 
Thorgils  remained  on  deck  all  the  time  except 
for  a  short  moment  when  he  went  helow  to  see 
how  the  women  fared.  Thorey  was  in  great 
pain,  hut  kept  herself  as  still  as  she  could,  and 
it  comforted  to  see  her  steady  eyes  resting  upon 
him.  Gudrun  was  beside  her,  and  the  two,  he 
could  see,  had  faith  in  him.  Thorgils  sat  beside 
her  and  took  her  hand  for  a  while.  He  told  her 
that  he  had  little  hope  of  saving  the  ship,  which 
was  fast  wedged  in  the  rocks.  He  did  not  think 
that  she  would  break  up  yet.  Even  as  he  spoke 
every  breaking  wave  caused  her  to  shudder 
froxii  stem  to  stern.  Thorey  told  him  that  she 
wasn't  frightened — but  he  knew  her  better. 
She  said  that  she  was  glad  Thorny  was  safe  at 
home,  and  as  she  said  it  her  eyes  filled  with 
tears,  and  she  was  obliged  to  turn  her  head 
away.  Gudrun  sat  on  the  floor  and  held  Thor- 
gils' knees.  They  were  quiet  here,  but  else- 
where there  was  screaming  and  much  commo- 
.tion,  Thorgerd  drunk  and  shouting.    He  could 


TROUBLE  AT  SEA  79 

not  remain  with  Thorey  long,  as  he  had  to  visit 
every  one  in  turn  and  endure  as  best  he  could 
the  reproaches  they  flung  at  him. 

He  was  on  deck  when  the  first  twilight  of 
morning  showed.    Their  ship  was  fast  in  a  cleft 
between  two  great  rocks,  which  themselves  were 
the  outworks  of  the  cliffs— one  of  the  horns  of 
a  bay.    As  the  light  gained  he  was  able  to  make 
out  the  lie  of  the  bay,  and  how  it  was  almost 
landlocked,  and  safe  from  the  weather.    Once  in 
there,  they  could  choose  the  best  landing-place 
and  get  the  women  out  of  danger;  but  how  to 
launch  the  boat  in  the  present  sea  he  did  not 
know  at  all.    He  went  forward  and  examined 
the  cliffs  carefully  in  the  hope  of  finding  a  way 
of  landing  by  them;  but  there  was  no  help  in 
that  quarter.    As  soon  as  it  was  light  enough 
he  gave  orders  to  get  out  the  boat,  and  put  the 
women  and  children  aboard  her.    He  himself 
took  Thorey  in  his  arms  and  got  her  into  the 
boat.    She  was  too  ill  now  to  be  terrified.    Thor- 
arin,  lostan's  son,  was  put  in  command,  and 
they  pulled  away  from  the  rocks.    It  was  fright- 
ful to  see  them  mount  the  seas  and  lurch  down 
out  of  sight;  that  was  the  worst  half -hour  of 
Thorgils'  life  so  far. 


80  THORGILS 

But  by  the  providence  of  God  they  escaped 
the  breakers  and  the  cliffs,  and  he  saw  them 
into  smooth  water.  They  set  to  work  then  to 
get  the  stores  out  and  all  the  things  which  they 
must  have ;  and  when  the  boat  came  back  most 
of  this  was  bestowed  in  her,  and  the  better  part 
of  the  men.  Thorgils  remained  until  the  last, 
not  believing  for  a  moment  at  a  time  that  the 
ship  would  last  out  till  his  turn  came.  But  she 
did — it  was  when  he  was  close  to  shore  that  he 
saw  her  part  amidships  and  the  bows  dip  and 
sink.  There  was  the  end  of  that  ship,  then ;  but 
they  were  in  Greenland. 

The  bay  in  which  they  were  was  of  great  ex- 
tent, and  cliffs  enclosed  it  in  two  horns.  The 
mountains,  which  were  covered  with  ice,  came 
sharply  down  to  the  shore.  This  was  sandy, 
with  scarcely  enough  herbage  at  the  edge  to 
feed  a  couple  of  sheep ;  but  on  the  western  horn 
there  seemed  to  be  a  greater  depth  of  ground, 
and  it  was  there  Thorgils  determined  they  must 
build  themselves  a  shelter  against  the  winter. 
As  he  judged,  that  could  not  be  far  off.  He 
thought  it  would  set  in  cold  when  the  storm  was 
spent.    There  was  abundance  of  wreckage  and 


TROUBLE  AT  SEA  81 

driftwood  all  along  the  shore— more  than 
enough  to  build  a  good  house. 

Having  chosen  the  site,  all  hands  set  to  work 
to  build  the  house.  It  was  made  after  the  fash- 
ion of  their  country,  a  long  hall  with  a  cross- 
division  in  the  middle — ^two  hearths  back  to 
back,  and  two  doors,  one  for  each  part  of  the 
house.  Thorgils  was  determined  to  keep  the 
companies  separate.  He  had  not  been  at  all 
satisfied  with  lostan^s  people  on  the  voyage. 
They  had  been  thriftless  and  noisy;  they  had 
been  for  ever  at  extremes,  and  at  either  extreme 
unmanageable.  He  felt  that  he  could  deal  with 
his  own,  but  that  the  others  were  beyond  him. 
There  should  be  an  equal  division  of  whatever 
was  saved  from  the  wreck,  and  then  each  party 
must  shift  for  itself.  So  far  as  he  could  see, 
they  must  stay  out  the  winter  in  this  bay,  where 
they  were  sheltered  from  the  worst  of  the 
weather.  He  hoped  that  they  would  get  fish  to 
live  on — and  didn't  allow  himself  to  wonder 
how  else  they  were  to  subsist. 

They  were  two  weeks  or  more  building  their 
hall,  and  in  the  meantime  the  women  lived  in  a 
cave  in  the  rocks,  with  a  great  fire  to  keep  them 
warm.    Gudrun  and  some  of  the  servant-girls 


82  THOEGILS 

helped  with  the  building.  Thorey  lay  abed; 
she  was  now  very  ill,  and  expecting  her  child 
from  day  to  day.  They  kept  her  warm  and  dry, 
but  that  was  all  they  could  do. 


CHAPTER   X 

THE    FIRST    WINTER 

WHEN  the  house  was  finished,  they 
moved  into  it  what  stores  they  had;  a 
certain  amount  of  meal  remained  to 
them,  but  not  enough  to  see  the  winter  out; 
some  stockfish ;  some  onions ;  nothing  else  worth 
talking  about,  except  mead,  and  of  that  too 
much  remained.  The  cattle  were  dead  and  cast 
overboard,  and  the  sheep  were  all  dead.  They 
had  saved  their  chests  from  the  wreck,  and  had 
them  in  the  hall.  They  dried  seaweed  to  eke 
out  the  bedding ;  and  then  they  moved  in.  Thor- 
ey's  baby  was  born  in  the  cave,  and  called  Thor- 
finn.  She  had  a  bad  confinement  and  could  not 
nourish  him  well  on  the  food  which  they  had 
to  do  with. 

All  hands,  by  common  consent,  went  to  the 
fishing,  which  was  very  well  so  long  as  the  bay 
remained  open.  Thorgils  doubted  it  would  be 
shut  to  them  when  the  heart  of  the  winter  had 

83 


84  THOEGILS 

grown  round  them ;  but  meantime  they  had  good 
catches.  They  climbed  the  encircling  cliffs  and 
penetrated  the  upland  country  so  far  as  they 
could.  They  made  out  herds  of  deer  on  the 
distant  heights,  and  saw  the  tracks  of  bears,  but 
met  with  no  animals  within  range ;  and  the  snow 
lay  very  deep  up  there.  Whenever  there  was  a 
partial  thaw  the  white  fogs  settled  down  upon 
them  like  a  blanket ;  and  then  there  was  nothing 
to  be  done. 

It  was  a  terrible  winter  indeed,  full  of  dis- 
aster and  trouble,  of  which  the  worst  must  be 
told.  Men  take  trouble  in  different  ways,  some 
as  if  they  expected  it,  and  intended  to  see  it 
through;  and  of  that  sort  was  Thorgils,  who 
was  a  religious  man  and  able  to  control  his 
household  because  he  was  always  able  to  control 
himself.  Of  the  other  sort  was  lostan,  a  light- 
hearted,  easy-going  man  when  the  world  went 
well  with  him,  but  in  times  of  stress  unstable. 
He  had  never  had  any  other  way  of  meeting 
difficulty  than  that  of  high  spirits  and  audacity. 
To  get  those  in  sufficiency  he  knew  no  better 
plan  than  to  eat  and  drink  all  he  could  carry. 
His  wife  was  worse  than  he  was,  a  woman  with 
a  man's  frame,  a  man's  appetite,  and  the  heart 


THE  FIEST  WINTER  85 

and  nerve  of  her  own  sex.  She  ate  and  drank 
like  a  man,  and  scolded  like  a  woman.  On 
their  side  of  the  house  matters  were  always  in 
extremes.  They  revelled,  and  they  desponded; 
they  fought,  and  then  they  loved.  Half  the 
night  they  caroused,  and  then  weren't  ready  in 
the  morning  to  take  their  share  of  foraging  for 
victual.  The  consequence  was  that  Thorgils 
and  his  men  did  far  better  at  the  fishing  than 
they  did,  so  that  very  often  at  the  end  of  the 
day  they  would  have  had  nothing  to  take  in  if 
Thorgils  had  not  shared  his  catch  with  them. 
As  trouble  increased  so  did  lostan's  character 
worsen.  He  now  made  a  grievance  of  it  if 
Thorgils  did  not  offer  to  share  his  catch ;  he  was 
greatly  offended  when  he  was  reproved  for  the 
noise  he  allowed  at  night ;  but  what  was  worst 
of  all,  he  drew  away  from  Thorgils  his  son 
Thorarin,  a  fine  young  man  and  one  of  the  best 
of  the  whole  ship's  company.  Thorgils  felt 
that  more  than  he  cared  to  say. 

So  things  went  on,  badly  enough,  till  Christ- 
mas, and  after  that  they  went  worse.  There 
was  sickness  on  lostan's  side  of  the  house,  and 
the  long  bitter  nights  told  upon  their  spirits. 
They  began  to  hear  noises,  and  to  imagine  ter- 


86  THOEGILS 

rible  things.  Thorgerd,  lostan's  wife,  was  one 
of  the  worst.  She  was  nearly  always  the  worse 
for  drink,  and  saw  and  heard  all  sorts  of  things. 
One  night  when  they  were  feasting  and  making 
a  great  noise — with  the  wind  howling  outside 
and  the  snow  driving — there  came  a  loud  knock 
at  the  door,  and  then  a  dead  silence.  Somebody 
said,  **  If  that  should  be  good  news  ":  and  then 
a  man  jumped  up.  ^^  I'm  going  out  to  them, 
whether  or  no.''  He  got  the  door  open  and  ran 
out — but  did  not  come  back.  lostan  and  his  son 
went  out  to  look  for  him,  but  couldn't  find  him. 
They  had  torches  and  hunted  all  about  the 
shore.  Presently  they  saw  him,  with  his  arms 
stretched  out,  facing  a  rock,  and  jigging  up  and 
down.  They  saw  that  he  was  mad,  but  mas- 
tered him  and  took  him  back.  He  screamed  all 
the  rest  of  the  night  until  he  died. 

Next  evening  it  was  much  the  same.  There 
was  a  thump  on  the  door,  and  a  man  of  theirs 
stood  up.  **  My  turn,"  he  said,  and  went  out. 
They  followed  him  quickly,  and  saw  him  run- 
ning like  a  wild  thing  among  the  boulders  and 
snowdrifts.  He  looked  as  if  he  was  being 
chased  by  something,  and  ran  screaming  into 
the  sea.    They  never  saw  him  again. 


THE  FIRST  WINTER  87 

Then  sickness  took  them — scurvy;  and  one 
after  another  they  died.  lostan  took  it  on 
Twelfth  Night,  and  Thorgerd,  who  was  now  so- 
bered, nursed  him.  She  wouldn't  allow  either 
Thorey  or  Gudrun  to  come  near  him.  **  You 
brought  all  this  misery  upon  us ;  now  keep  away 
and  let  us  alone.''  When  lostan  was  dead,  and 
they  had  buried  him  with  the  others  in  the 
snowdrift,  Thorgerd  took  the  disease,  and  died 
of  it.  Thorarin  was  the  last  of  them  to  go,  and 
he  died  on  Thorgils'  side  of  the  house,  in  Gud- 
run's  arms.  They  buried  him  apart,  near  the 
wreck  of  the  ship,  and  put  a  rock  over  him. 

No  hurt  had  so  far  come  to  Thorgils'  com- 
pany; but  they  were  sadly  cast  down,  and  in 
mortal  terror  of  the  unquiet  dead.  There  seems 
no  doubt  but  that  the  dead  walked.  They 
thought  that  they  heard  them  shouting  and  sing- 
ing wild  foolish  songs  in  their  empty  hall.  They 
heard  them  thump  the  door,  and  the  madmen 
screaming  outside  in  the  snow.  Thorey  said 
nothing ;  but  she  used  to  fix  her  dark-blue  eyes 
on  Thorgils,  and  tremble,  though  she  did  all  she 
could  to  control  herself.  Gudrun  had  not  so 
much  command.  She  was  very  much  changed 
from  what  she  had  been;  she  was  grown  hag- 


88  THORGILS 

gard  and  lined  in  the  face.  There  seemed  no 
spring  left  in  her.  But  she  was  as  fond  of  Thor- 
gils  as  ever  she  had  been,  and  always  careful  of 
his  good  opinion. 

Thorgils  himself  was  troubled  by  the  walk- 
ing of  the  dead,  but  more  because  his  women- 
kind  were  so  much  affected.  It  kept  growing 
worse  as  the  winter  wore  on.  Some  time  in 
February  he  told  Starkad  and  Col  (who  had 
been  of  his  party  from  the  beginning)  that  he 
thought  that  they  must  make  an  end  of  it,  and 
they  agreed  to  help  him.  The  thralls  would 
not  bear  a  hand  at  any  price ;  but  Thorgils  with 
the  two  young  men  dug  up  all  the  bodies  out 
of  the  drifts,  and  made  a  wood  pile,  and  burned 
them  all.  It  took  them  two  days.  All  were 
burned  except  Thorarin,  who  lay  quiet  under 
his  rock. 

After  that  there  was  no  trouble  from  ghosts ; 
and  about  March,  when  the  worst  of  the  winter 
was  over,  Thorgils  set  to  work  to  build  a  new 
ship  out  of  the  wreck  of  the  old  one,  and  such 
timbers  as  they  could  collect  off  the  shore. 
There  was  any  quantity  of  it.  They  set  up  their 
stocks  on  a  part  of  the  beach  which  edged  on  to 
the  deep  water,  and  having  a  fine  store  of  tools, 


THE  FIRST  WINTER  89 

there  was  very  soon  something  to  be  seen  worth 
looking  at.  Their  spirits  rose;  they  began  to 
talk  of  voyaging  again.  Thorgils  said  little,  but 
worked  like  a  dozen,  saw  to  everything  and  kept 
a  firm  hand  on  his  thralls.  He  dared  not  look 
far  forward — still  less  look  back.  What  he  said 
he  did  not  always,  in  his  heart,  believe ;  never- 
theless he  spoke  hopefully  to  all  of  them  about 
the  summer  that  was  coming. 

Yet  the  summer  came,  and  the  ship  could  not 
be  finished  before  it  was  half  over.  Their  hands 
were  too  few  and  the  work  too  hard  for  that. 
Thorgils  dared  not  start  without  a  great  store 
of  provisions,  and  to  get  that  all  men  must  go 
hunting  or  fishing,  and  the  women  must  souse 
and  salt,  or  smoke  and  salt  what  the  men 
brought  in.  They  were  able  to  go  far  afield,  for 
the  summers  were  hot,  and  most  of  the  snow 
melted.  They  got  upon  the  track  of  the  rein- 
deer and  did  well;  they  trapped  birds;  seals, 
too,  they  got,  as  well  as  quantities  of  fish.  Thor- 
gils made  a  conduit  to  bring  water  down  from 
the  hills  to  their  house.  He  laid  it  underground 
in  the  hope  that  he  might  keep  the  frost  out. 
He  had  kept  back  some  of  their  grain,  and  had 
sowed  it  as  soon  as  the  weather  opened.    There 


90  THORGILS 

was  a  good  harvest  from  that,  enough  at  least 
to  keep  them  through  the  next  winter.  He  had 
collected  green-meat  also,  and  having  caught  a 
wild  she-goat  with  two  kids,  kept  her  in  milk  for 
the  sake  of  Thorey  and  her  baby.  Thorey  had 
not  been  able  to  walk  all  the  summer;  he  did 
not  believe  in  his  heart  that  she  would  live 
through  another  winter. 

Now  he  had  to  break  it  to  her,  and  to  all  of 
them,  that  they  must  bide  until  next  year. 
Thorey  said  that  she  had  known  it,  but  Gudrun 
desponded  a  great  deal,  and  never  picked  up 
heart  after  the  cold  weather  set  in. 

She  took  ill  in  earnest  about  Christmas-time, 
and  nobody  but  Thorgils  seemed  to  do  her  any 
good.  She  lay  in  her  bed,  with  her  bright  eyes 
fixed  upon  him,  listening  to  what  he  had  to  tell 
her,  and  when  he  stopped,  waiting  for  him  to 
go  on  again.  When  he  talked  hopefully  of  the 
next  summer,  and  said  that  he  must  find  a  hus- 
band for  her  before  it  was  too  late,  she  said, 
*^  It  is  too  late.  I  shan't  see  another  summer, 
but  if  I  had  seen  ten  more  I  should  never  have 
married.''  Thorgils  said,  **  You  will  fall  in 
love,  my  dear,  and  then  you  will  sing  another 
song  altogether."    She  said  quietly,  **  I  fell  in 


THE  FIRST  WINTER  91 

love  long  ago,  and  have  never  fallen  out  of  it.*' 
Thorgils,  who  had  no  thought  of  what  was  in  her 
mind,  asked  her  what  had  become  of  her  choice : 
**  And  how  did  you  come  to  leave  him  behind 
you  ?  ' '  Gudrun  said, ' '  I  did  not.  He  is  here. ' ' 
By  the  look  she  gave  him  then,  he  knew  what 
she  meant,  and  turned  the  talk  to  other  things — 
but  he  felt  very  badly  about  it,  and  did  not  care 
to  tell  Thorey,  who  was  lying  nearby,  but  had 
been  asleep  at  the  time. 

Gudrun  died  a  few  days  later,  and  they  buried 
her  just  below  the  house,  and  put  a  cross  over 
her  grave.  Then  Thorgils  told  Thorey  what 
she  had  said  to  him.  She  smiled  rather  sadly. 
**  That  was  never  hidden  from  me,"  she  said. 
**  Gudrun  loved  you  ever  since  you  took  her  in 
at  Treadholt  after  Sorle's  slaughter.  I  saw  it 
as  plainly  as  I  see  you  now."  **  She  had  no 
reason,"  Thorgils  said,  and  Thorey  still  smiled. 
**  There  is  no  reason  in  love ;  but  much  pain  very 
often;  and  sometimes  there  is  joy  too.  But 
those  who  have  the  most  pain  love  the  better, 
I  believe."  Then  said  Thorgils,  ''  T\niy,  then, 
Gudrun  loved  me  better  than  you  have  done, 
since  she  has  had  the  most  pain."  Thorey  had 
tears  in  her  eyes.    **  Nay,  my  beloved,  but  I 


92  THORGILS 

have  had  pain  too — and  now  my  grief  is  very 
heavy. ' '  He  asked  her  why,  but  she  would  not 
tell  him;  and  he  had  not  the  heart  to  press  her, 
because  he  knew. 


CHAPTER   XI 


THE    HEAVIEST    STROKE 


HOWEVER,  with  the  opening  of  the 
spring  weather  Thorey  seemed  to  get 
better.  She  had  given  up  nursing  her 
baby  since  they  had  plenty  of  goat's  milk.  Now 
she  was  able  to  rise  from  her  bed  and  be  useful 
about  the  house  for  short  spells  of  time ;  but  her 
weakness  used  to  come  over  her  like  a  flood  of 
water;  she  fainted  often,  and  Thorgils  urged 
her  to  keep  her  bed  yet  awhile. 

She  went  back  to  bed,  and  lay  there  patiently, 
sleeping  a  good  deal,  but  dreaming  constantly. 
She  told  Thorgils  sometimes  what  she  had  been 
dreaming  about,  and  seemed  to  expect  him  to 
interpret  for  her.  One  morning  when  he  came 
in  to  see  how  she  was,  he  saw  a  great  light  in  her 
eyes.  **  Sit  down  by  me,"  she  said,  *^  and  111 
tell  you  my  dream.  I  thought  that  I  stood  at  the 
door  of  a  white  house,  looking  down  a  valley. 
There  was  blue  sky  above  me,  and  dew  on  the 

93 


94  THOEGILS 

grass.  And  I  saw  sheep  feeding  on  the  slopes 
of  the  hills,  and  a  shepherd  lying  on  his  cloak 
spread  out,  watching  them.  And  in  the  valley- 
bottom  where  the  river  ran  there  were  people — 
men  and  maids,  too ;  and  a  game  of  ball  was  go- 
ing on.  They  were  kicking  the  ball  backwards 
and  forwards  across  the  river.  Once  it  fell  in ; 
and  there  was  shouting  and  laughing.  Then  a 
young  man  plunged  in  and  swam  to  get  it.  I 
saw  him  shake  the  water  out  of  his  eyes  as  he 
settled  to  his  breaststroke.  It  was  all  so  soft 
and  fair  and  happy — being  still  weather  with  a 
promise  of  heat  to  come — that  I  tried  to  go  to 
sleep  again,  that  I  might  dream  it  again.  But 
I  couldn't  do  that,  so  waited  for  you  to  come 
that  you  might  tell  me  what  it  all  meant.''  She 
spoke  eagerly,  with  colour  high  in  her  cheeks, 
and  made  Thorgils  unhappy;  for  he  was  sure 
that  she  would  not  get  better,  or  ever  see  such 
pleasant  valleys  again. 

But  he  said,  **  That  was  a  rare  dream  of 
yours,  and  soon  I  hope  we  shall  be  ready  to  try 
after  a  place  of  the  sort.  There  are  people  of 
our  own  country  somewhere  in  this  desert,  and 
they  are  waiting  for  us  as  the  seasons  pass  over. 
We  had  bad  hap  in  driving  on  to  this  wilderness 


THE  HEAVIEST  STROKE  95 

of  rock  and  ice,  and  have  never  been  able  to 
mend  our  fortunes  yet.'' 

**  To  be  sure/'  said  Thorey.  ''  We  are  not  to 
blame  for  our  troubles,  nor  is  anybody  to  blame. 
But  you  don't  tell  me  what  you  think  about 
my  dream.  Does  it  not  foretell  good  for- 
tune? " 

Thorgils  said,  **  It  looks  like  that.  But  you 
and  I  would  do  wiselier  to  look  upon  it  as  a 
vision  of  another  world,  such  as  we  have  been 
taught  to  hold  to,  and  your  dream  may  be  a  fig- 
ure of  what  reward  you  and  holy  women  like 
you  are  to  receive  from  God  and  the  Saviour  of 
men.  There  will  be  a  house  in  a  sweet  valley 
kept  for  you,  and  good  friends  to  help  you 
there  after  your  brave  life  and  your  troubles, 
none  of  your  deserving." 

**  Ah,"  said  Thorey,  who  was  now  crying 
softly,  ''  get  us  all  out  of  this  horrible  place  if 
you  can.    I  am  sore  to  be  home  again." 

It  was  not  the  nature  of  the  man  to  promise 
more  than  he  saw  his  way  to  winning.  All  he 
had  to  say  was  that  he  did  not  know  how  that 
was  to  be  just  yet.  But  he  told  her  presently 
that  he  hoped  to  launch  the  ship  in  a  week  or 
little  more,  and  that  she  would  surely  be  fin- 


96  THOEGILS 

ished  before  the  bay  was  clear  of  ice.  This  was 
in  the  early  days  of  the  spring. 

He  was  as  good  as  his  word.  The  ship  was 
launched  and  rode  in  the  deep  water.  They 
made  good  speed  with  the  rigging  of  her,  and 
expected  to  get  the  stores  on  board  within  a 
month.  Meantime  Thorgils  was  much  exercised 
to  know  what  sort  of  a  course  he  ought  to  take 
when  he  left  the  bay,  and  was  always  climbing 
the  hills  about  to  spy  out  the  bearing  of  the 
land.  He  had  discovered  that  islands — a  clus- 
ter of  them — lay  about  half  a  day's  sailing  to 
the  S.  S.  W.  There  was  one  of  these  which  ran 
up  into  a  cove,  and  he  rather  thought  he  should 
try  for  an  anchorage  out  there,  and  climb  up 
that  hill  for  further  discovery.  He  hadn't  yet 
been  able  to  get  a  fair  view  Eastward,  whither 
he  rather  suspected  Eric  and  his  settlers  were 
gone.  There  was  a  way — or  what  looked  like 
a  way — up  a  glacier  to  some  high  crags,  north 
of  their  settlement,  which  tempted  him.  He 
made  up  his  mind  that  he  would  try  that  before 
he  set  sail. 

Their  way  of  life  had  for  a  long  time  run  a 
regular  course.  Every  day  the  thralls,  with 
Thorarin  the  reeve,  used  to  go  out  fishing  in  the 


THE  HEAVIEST  STROKE  97 

boat.  That  was  necessary  for  their  daily  liveli- 
hood. Thorgils  himself,  with  Thorlaf,  Ead- 
wine's  son,  and  the  brothers  Starkad  and  Col, 
when  they  were  not  hunting,  were  busy  about 
the  house  or  the  fields  which  they  had  made 
round  it.  But  just  now  all  their  time  was  taken 
up  with  the  ship.  One  of  them  always  remained 
near  the  house  in  case  Thorey  should  want  any- 
thing. 

Now  there  came  a  fine  day,  clear  and  still, 
and  Thorgils  determined  upon  his  exploration. 
He  told  Thorey  that  he  should  not  be  long  away. 
She  said  that  she  was  never  happy  without  him, 
but  that  he  must  do  what  he  thought  right. 
**  You  have  never  failed  me  ever  since  I  have 
known  you,''  she  told  him — and  he  remembered 
that  afterwards. 

The  young  men  were  wild  to  go  with  him,  as 
was  natural  enough,  seeing  the  winter  behind 
them  and  a  spell  of  hard  work.  Thorgils 
thought  that  one  at  least  of  them  should  stay  at 
home ;  but  they  clamoured  and  begged  it  of  him, 
and  he  gave  way.  The  reeve  should  see  the 
thralls  out  to  their  fishing-ground,  and  himself 
stay  behind  in  the  house. 

That  was  settled,  and  they  started  early  in 


98  THORGILS 

the  morning  for  the  glacier.  They  had  axes 
with  them  as  well  as  their  weapons.  Earth- 
house-prey  never  left  Thorgils'  belt. 

The  climbing  was  slow  work,  and  took  longer 
than  they  expected.  It  was  fairly  three  in  the 
afternoon  before  they  reached  the  crags  and 
got  the  look-out  they  had  hoped  for.  Certainly, 
a  fine  prospect;  a  spacious  land  of  mountain 
and  valley,  breaking  into  innumerable  capes  and 
creeks,  with  the  sea  beyond  sparkling  and  trem- 
bling in  the  light.  Looking  South  and  South- 
east, Thorgils  was  now  sure  that  it  would  be 
thereabouts  he  must  expect  to  find  Eric  and  the 
Icelanders  with  him.  There  showed  to  be  fair 
shores  there ;  and  one  great  firth  he  saw  which 
he  thought  must  be  Eric's  creek.  There  was 
enough  pasture  there,  he  judged,  to  feed  half  a 
million  sheep.  The  mountains  sloped  gently  to- 
wards the  estuary,  and  were  covered  with 
woods.  That  was  a  great  country,  and  thither 
he  promised  himself  he  should  be  sailing  before 
the  weeks  were  many  behind  him.  Out  at  sea  it 
was  plain  the  ice-packs  were  breaking  up.  Come 
a  warm  wind  from  the  "West  and  there  would  be 
a  fair  way.  He  felt  very  much  cheered  by  all 
that  he  saw,  thinking  to  himself,  he  would  have 


THE  HEAVIEST  STROKE  99 

a  good  tale  for  Thorey  when  he  was  at  home 
again.  She  might  be  spared  to  find  in  that  gra- 
cious country  the  happy  valley  of  her  dream! 
So  he  fondly  promised  himself. 

But  he  found  it  was  getting  late  in  the  day, 
so  gave  the  word  for  home.  The  weather  also 
had  thickened ;  he  was  afraid  of  being  caught  in 
a  snowstorm.  Surely  enough,  before  they  were 
half-way  down,  or  a  little  more  than  that,  the 
wind  got  up  and  large  flakes  of  snow  began  to 
flit  past  them,  tokens  of  what  was  to  come. 

Thorgils  himself  led,  and  was  able  to  find  the 
path  they  had  cut  for  themselves.  They  had  to 
step  very  carefully,  and  had  roped  themselves. 
Slowly  and  painfully  they  descended  the  first 
glacier,  and  made  better  way  climbing  the  ridge 
which  took  them  to  the  second.  When  they  were 
atop  of  that  they  should  have  been  able  to  find 
Thorgils'  Bay,  for  so  they  had  called  it,  and 
all  the  scene  of  their  weary  years.  And  so  they 
did,  although  the  snow  was  coming  thickly,  and 
the  whole  prospect  was  mufiled  in  it.  One  thing 
Thorgils  could  not  see,  and  that  was  the  ship. 
He  strained  his  eyes  through  the  dirty  weather, 
but  in  vain.  He  had  no  suspicion  of  anything 
amiss,  however,  supposing  that  the  reeve  had 


100  THOEGILS 

warped  her  into  snugger  quarters  out  of  the 
storm ;  nevertheless  he  quickened  his  pace,  while 
at  the  bottom  of  his  mind  lay  a  grain  of  dis- 
comfort which  he  could  neither  explain  nor  get 
rid  of. 

It  was  drawing  in  towards  night  when  they 
came  down  to  the  level  ground,  and  had  the  hall 
in  front  of  them.  Most  certainly  the  ship  was 
not  there,  and  nobody  could  say  where  it  was. 
Thorlaf,  who  had  noticed  her  absence  some 
time  ago,  ran  on  in  front  and  went  into  the  hall. 
He  did  not  come  back.  Thorgils  walked  quickly 
to  the  door ;  and  as  he  reached  it  Thorlaf  came 
out  to  meet  him.  He  said  nothing,  but  his  face 
showed  immediately  that  something  was  wrong. 
He  seemed  unable  to  speak,  and  unwilling  to 
meet :  it  was  as  if  he  was  afraid  of  Thorgils. 

He  for  his  part  did  not  speak  either.  He 
heard  the  child  wailing,  and  pushed  in.  The 
moment  he  was  in  the  door  he  saw  that  some- 
thing was  very  wrong.  The  chests  had  gone; 
lockers  were  open  and  the  blankets  and  other 
things  in  them  tumbled  about.  Starkad,  who  was 
just  behind  him,  said  over  his  shoulder  to  Col, 
**  A  bad  business  here;"  but  Thorgils  was  now 
in  the  hall  and  across  the  room  to  Thorey's  bed. 


THE  HEAVIEST  STROKE      .101 


The  child  was  crying,  and  he  could  see  where 
she  lay.  He  looked  at  her.  She  was  dead,  with 
her  eyes  and  mouth  open.  The  child  was  grop- 
ing about  to  find  her  breast.  Thorgils  looked 
long  at  her,  and  a  great  pain  seemed  to  burn 
inside  him. 

^'  Oh,  Thorey,"  he  said,  *'oh,  wife,  anything 
but  this."  Then  he  broke  up,  and  fell  on  his 
knees  beside  her  and  sobbed,  that  it  was  pity 
to  hear  him. 

But  Thorlaf  had  seen  something  else,  and 
showed  it  to  the  two  brothers.  There  was  a 
patch  of  blood  upon  the  quilt.  He  turned  that 
back,  and  followed  it  through  all  her  coverings 
until  they  saw  the  place  where  she  had  been  hurt. 
The  blood  had  stiffened  there  all  round  about, 
but  there  was  a  wet  place  in  the  middle  of  the 
wound.  She  had  been  stabbed  under  the  left 
arm. 

They  left  Thorgils  alone,  and  went  to  look 
about  for  what  might  remain  to  them.  All  the 
provisions  had  been  taken,  the  stores  which  they 
had  been  the  better  part  of  a  year  collecting; 
nearly  all  the  ship-building  tools,  two  of  the 
goats,  the  ship,  the  boat,  and  all  the  tackle.  They 
supposed  the  old  she-goat  had  only  been  left 


102  THORGILS 

because  the  thieves  had  been  hurried.  Thorarin 
the  reeve  had  disappeared  with  the  thralls. 
Either  they  had  forced  him  to  go  along,  or  else 
he  was  killed  and  hidden  somewhere. 

In  the  face  of  calamity  like  this,  with  one  con- 
sent they  returned  to  the  hall  to  get  the  counte- 
nance of  Thorgils.  They  found  the  poor  man 
with  his  child  in  his  arms,  trying  to  warm  and 
quiet  it.  He  was  now  himself  again  and  gave 
them  directions  what  to  do.  One  should  make  a 
good  fire,  and  one  set  water  to  boil.  Dismayed 
to  find  that  he  did  not  yet  know  the  extent  of 
their  losses.  Col  threw  up  his  hands  at  the  talk 
of  boiling  water;  but  Thorgils  quietly  said, 
''  They  have  left  the  little  kettle.  There  it  is 
on  the  hearth.  Thieves  can't  think  of  every- 
thing.'' Then  Starkad  told  him  that  the  she- 
goat  was  left,  and  Thorgils  thanked  God.  *  ^  Go 
and  draw  me  a  horn  of  milk,  my  friend.  Thor- 
finn  is  hungry." 

So  were  they  all,  God  knew,  but  there  was  no 
time  to  think  of  that ;  and  by  some  happy  for- 
tune before  night  they  found  the  remains  of  a 
side  of  reindeer  which  the  thieves  had  over- 
looked. They  made  a  great  fire  and  lay  about 
it,  as  close  as  they  could  get,  for  there  was  no 


THE  HEAVIEST  STROKE         103 

bedding  left  except  that  which  covered  Thorey. 
But  Thorgils  did  not  disturb  her,  and  nobody 
else  dared.  As  for  Thorgils  himself,  having  fed 
Thorfinn,  he  put  him  inside  his  coat  and  lay  on 
his  elbow  all  night,  watching  over  him.  It  was 
a  bad  night  for  all  of  them,  but  for  him  the 
worst  he  had  ever  known  in  his  life,  or  was  ever 
likely  to  know;. 


CHAPTER    XII 


THE    ISLANDS 


HE  was  much  changed  by  that  dreadful 
stroke.  The  spring  was  out  of  him 
which  had  made  him  ever  the  first  in 
adventure ;  but  in  one  thing  he  was  not  changed 
at  all.  All  the  grief  he  felt  for  Thorey  he  kept 
closely  to  himself.  The  graves  of  the  two  foster 
sisters  lay  side  by  side,  a  cross  upon  each.  None 
saw  Thorgils  beside  them ;  none  knew  whether 
he  prayed  there  or  not,  or  shed  tears,  or  allowed 
his  thoughts  to  turn  backward  to  days  of  past 
and  done  happiness.  It  is  likely  that  he  did  not 
seek  out  the  graves ;  he  was  not  a  man  to  mourn 
over  what  was  done ;  but  each  of  the  three  com- 
panions left  him  out  of  near  thirty  who  had 
started  out  noticed  how  fiercely  he  attached 
himself  to  his  child  Thorfinn.  It  looked  as  if  all 
his  strong  heart  had  fastened  itself  about  that 
frail  plant.   He  never  let  him  be  out  of  his  sight, 

104 


THE  ISLANDS  105 

slept  with  him,  washed  and  fed  him  himself. 
They  thought  that  if  the  boy  should  die  during 
the  coming  winter  Thorgils  would  himself  give 
up  his  wish  to  live — and  what  would  become  of 
them  then? 

It  was  plain  that  they  must  look  for  another 
winter  in  the  deserted  bay.  It  would  be  three 
years  since  they  came  into  it,  and  for  the  whole 
of  that  time  no  living  soul  had  they  seen  except 
each  other.  They  were  hard  put  to  it  to  feed 
themselves,  and  knowing  that  it  would  be 
harder  in  the  wintertime,  they  spent  all  their 
time  hunting ;  for  now  that  they  had  no  boat  it 
was  difficult  to  fish.  They  made  themselves 
lines  and  hooks  out  of  odd  tackling  which  they 
found  about ;  with  these  they  used  to  fish  off  the 
rocks.  But  the  nets  were  all  gone,  and  what 
little  they  caught  with  the  lines  was  hardly  re- 
ward for  the  time  spent  on  it.  As  for  their 
hunting,  that  was  an  inordinate  weariness  for 
little  gain.  They  made  traps  for  small  animals 
— squirrels  and  such-like — went  far  afield  after 
reindeer,  and,  having  made  themselves  arrows 
after  a  fashion,  shot  a  few  birds.  Thorgils 
killed  a  bear  with  a  spear  early  in  the  winter, 
and  that  kept  them  for  near  two  months. 


106  THORGILS 

Out  of  the  skin  of  that  bear  came  their  salva- 
tion. They  dressed  it  in  its  own  grease,  and 
made  of  it  a  hide-boat  on  a  framework  of  drift- 
wood. The  thieves  had  taken  nearly  all  their 
tools ;  but  they  had  a  few  augurs,  and  the  axes 
they  had  had  with  them  on  the  day  of  disaster. 
They  were  at  it  all  the  winter,  working  in  the 
dark  by  the  light  of  the  fire.  Then  when  the 
third  spring  came  round,  and  the  ice  began  to 
break  up  again,  Thorgils  said  that  they 
would  go. 

They  spent  the  last  night  in  the  bay,  singing 
their  hymns  and  saying  their  prayers  before 
they  lay  down  to  sleep.  Early  in  the  morning 
Starkad  went  out  to  see  to  his  squirrel-traps 
and  sea-lines  and  to  fetch  them  in  for  the  jour- 
ney, and  on  his  way  out  he  turned  to  the  graves 
of  his  sister  and  foster  sister.  He  saw  a  writ- 
ing there,  carved  on  a  board,  and  read  it : 

Here  Thorey  sleeps,  and  here  beside 
Gudrun  her  sister  lies  asleep ; 
They  loved  and  lived  as  one,  and  died: 
Vex  them  not,  voyager,  neither  weep 
Their  lot.    The  Shepherd  knows  His  sheep, 
And  in  His  fold  their  hearts  abide. 


THE  ISLANDS  107 

He  knew  then  that  Thorgils  had  been  out  be- 
fore him. 


They  made  up  their  packages  and  loaded  the 
coracle  with  as  much  as  they  dared  put  in. 
Then  they  dragged  her  down  the  shore  and  over 
the  pack-ice.  The  bay  was  still  solid  ice,  but 
outside  in  the  open  sea  there  were  lanes  of 
water  where  they  could  work  the  oars.  It  was 
fair  weather  and  not  much  wind.  Starkad  and 
Col  rowed  the  boat,  while  Thorgils  and  Thorlaf 
stood  with  poles  ready  to  ward  off  the  ice,  which 
was  dangerous.  More  than  once  they  had  to 
jump  for  it,  and  haul  the  boat  out  of  the  water. 
But  the  further  out  to  sea  they  reached  the  bet- 
ter it  became,  and  by  mid-day  there  was  little 
danger  from  the  ice,  and  they  were  able  to  hoist 
a  sail  which  they  had  made  out  of  the  bed-sheet 
which  had  been  left  under  Thorey.  They  sailed 
South  and  by  West,  to  the  islands  which  they 
had  made  out  from  the  crag-top.  Thorgils  had 
an  idea  that  the  thieves  would  have  gone  thither 
as  the  nearest  land,  sooner  than  venture  round 
the  coast.  It  was  almost  certain  that  they  would 
have  made  no  long  stay  there;  yet  there  was 
always  a  chance  that  bad  seamanship  had  losjb 


108  THORGILS 

them  their  vessel.  In  any  case  there  was  less 
trouble  to  be  feared  from  the  ice  out  in  the 
open  sea;  and  he  reckoned  on  finding  seals 
there,  and  sea-birds  also. 

In  all  of  his  f  orecastings  he  turned  out  to  be 
right.  They  came  safely  ashore  on  one  of  the 
islands,  and  built  themselves  a  tent,  using  the 
driftwood  which  they  found  in  abundance. 
They  were  lucky  in  finding  a  spring  of  water  in 
a  hill;  and  were  soon  certified  that  sea-birds' 
eggs  would  not  fail  them  for  a  time.  As  for 
seals,  they  were  there  like  cattle  on  all  hands, 
resting  on  the  shores,  or  out  at  sea  on  floes  of 
ice,  or  furrowing  in  the  water  like  porpoises  at 
play.  Thorgils  blessed  God  that  they  had  es- 
caped so  far,  and  come  to  a  place  where  they 
could  not  starve. 

But  Thorfinn  had  now  to  go  without  milk.  It 
is  true  that  they  had  taken  the  she-goat,  but  she 
was  in  no  case  to  be  milked,  being  but  dry  meat. 
They  boiled  sea-mews'  eggs  for  his  first  meal 
and  gave  him  one  of  them.  He  could  talk  a  little 
by  now — ^he  was  nearing  his  second  birthday. 
He  ate  half  of  his  egg,  would  take  no  more  of  it. 
**  Courage,  man,"  Thorgils  said  to  him;  **  have 
another  bite  at  it."    ''  No,  no,"  Thorfinn  said. 


THE  ISLANDS  109 

<«  Why,  what's  the  matter  with  the  eggl  '' 
Starkad  asked  him.  Thorfimi  said,  **  Father 
won't  eat  his  all,  and  I  won't  either."  It  was 
true  that  Thorgils  stinted  himself  of  food,  and 
had  for  a  long  time  when  they  were  so  short  on 
the  mainland.  Now  he  said,  ''  Go  along  with 
you.  I'll  have  another  if  you  will."  Then 
Thorfinn  ate  the  rest  of  his  egg. 

They  stayed  where  they  were  till  about  mid- 
summer, with  plenty  to  do  to  keep  themselves 
provisioned,  and  to  explore  the  islands  round 
about.  They  were  numerous,  but  so  far  as  they 
could  ascertain  at  present,  not  inhabited.  Yet 
the  wreckage  they  found  showed  them  that  men 
had  been  here;  whether  dead  or  alive,  who 
knows?  Among  other  things,  useful  or  not, 
they  found  an  oar  with  runes  cut  upon  it  to  this 
effect : — • 

At  home,  head- washing,  harbours  Slug; 
While  on  the  cold  sea  here  I  tug: 
Blisters   and  back-ache — there's  my  toll 
For  Slug-at-home's  soap-sudded  poll. 

Thorgils  was  very  excited  over  this  find. 
They  could  not  make  out  why.    He  told  them 


110  THORGILS 

presently  that  he  believed  Thorarin  the  reeve 
had  cut  the  runes.  **  They  are  in  his  vein,'^  he 
said.  **  He  was  thinking  of  his  brother  Geir, 
who  used  to  make  his  wife  wash  his  head  for  him 
once  a  week. ' '  They  thought  that  fanciful,  and 
so  it  may  have  been — yet  it  did  happen  that  they 
were  to  find  Thorarin  upon  one  of  these 
islands. 

But  before  they  could  do  that  they  had  a  ter- 
rible hour  to  get  through.  It  came  about,  when 
they  were  exploring  one  of  the  islands,  that 
they  found  it  a  good  fishing-ground  and  deter- 
mined to  stay  the  night  there.  The  weather  was 
then  warm  and  settled.  They  built  themselves 
a  tent,  made  a  fire,  and  broiled  some  fish  for  a 
supper.  While  they  were  busy  about  it.  Col, 
who  had  been  out  to  fetch  in  a  big  stone  to  heat, 
came  in  again  looking  rather  blank.  Thorlaf 
asked  him  what  had  hurt  him,  but  Col  put  his 
finger  to  his  lips,  frowning.  That  gave  Thorlaf 
a  hint  that  Thorgils  was  not  to  be  worried,  and 
also  it  alarmed  him.  He  took  the  opportunity 
to  slip  out — sure  enough,  their  boat  was  gone. 
Desperate  work  that.  Having  made  sure  that 
it  was  nowhere  in  sight,  he  went  back  to  the  tent, 
and  kept  his  own  counsel.     Thorgils   had   no 


THE  ISLANDS  111 

doubts,  made  his  meal  and  disposed  himself  to 
sleep  as  calmly  as  he  generally  did.  But  in  the 
morning,  according  to  his  custom,  he  was  the 
first  to  wake,  and  the  first  to  go  out.  He  missed 
the  boat  immediately,  and  stood  looking  over 
the  sea  for  a  long  time.  If  he  thought,  he  did 
not  know  it ;  and  yet  at  the  back  of  his  mind  he 
must  have  known  what  there  was  to  be  done. 

Presently  he  walked  slowly  back  to  the  tent, 
and  saw  Col  waiting  for  him.  They  looked  at 
each  other  without  speaking. 

Col  spoke  first:  **  It  is  gone."  Thorgils 
echoed  him:  ''  Yes,  it  is  gone.'' 

Then  Col  said,  ''  That  will  be  the  death  of 
us.'V  *^Well,''  said  Thorgils,  ''1  think  it 
likely. ' '    Then  there  was  silence  between  them. 

Presently  Thorgils  spoke  again,  and  his  voice 
was  altered  so  much  that  one  could  hardly  know 
him.  **  We  can't  keep  the  boy  alive,"  he  said. 
*^  One  of  you  must  kill  him,  for  I  cannot." 

**  Nay,  nay,"  said  Col,  *'  there's  no  need  of 
that  yet." 

''  Yes,"  said  Thorgils,  **  but  there  is.  We 
can't  keep  alive  here  long.  There's  no  water. 
To  see  him  suffer  thirst  and  die  of  it  is  not  pos- 
sible.  You  must  do  as  I  tell  you,  and  come  back 


112  THOEGILS 

to  me  here  when  it  is  done. ' '  He  would  not  look 
at  Thorfinn  when  they  took  him  away. 

The  three  young  men  went  a  little  way  off, 
Starkad  carrying  the  child  on  his  shoulder. 
Then  they  sent  him  to  play  by  the  sea,  and 
talked  about  what  they  should  do.  Thorlaf  said 
that  nothing  would  make  him  do  it,  but  the 
other  two  must  settle  for  themselves.  Col  and 
Starkad  argued  about  it,  Col  saying  that  Thor- 
gils  had  been  right.  *^  "We  must  perish  here  for 
want  of  water, '^  he  said,  **  and  it  is  better  to  die 
quickly  of  smothering  than  slowly  of  thirst  and 
torment.  Besides  his  own  there  would  be 
frenzy  and  despair  for  Thorgils  and  for  us.'' 

But  Starkad  said  that  all  was  not  at  an  end 
for  another  day  and  a  night.  *  ^  If  our  strength 
held  us  we  might  swim  from  this  island  to  an- 
other, where  water  might  be.  And  so  indeed 
from  island  to  island.  I  say  that  Thorgils  is 
already  repenting  of  this  bidding  of  his,  and  I 
tell  you  that  if  we  were  to  do  it — and  which  of 
us  will  do  it? — Thorgils  will  feel  it  so  badly  that 
he  may  never  get  over  it.  He  has  had  more 
troubles  than  most  men  can  bear,  but  they  were 
in  a  manner  not  of  his  own  doing.  No  man  can 
fight  with  such  fate  as  his.    But  this  would  be 


THE  ISLANDS  113 

his  work — and  suppose,  when  it  was  done,  we 
found  some  means  of  escape!  " 

Col  had  no  answer  ready,  but  looked  over  at 
his  brother.    **  Then  you  won^t  do  it?  " 

^^  No,"  said  Starkad,  **  I'll  never  do  such  a 
thing  as  that.'' 

<<  Why,  then,"  said  Col,  *'  we  are  all  of  one 
mind,  for  whoever  does  it,  it  won't  be  me." 

They  went  back  to  the  hut,  but  left  Thorfinn 
outside.  Thorgils  was  sitting  in  there.  He 
looked  at  them  terribly.    *  *  Is  it  done  ?  ' ' 

They  told  him.  No.  He  frowned,  and  stared 
about,  and  then  broke  into  tears.  In  the  midst 
of  his  tears  he  came  to  them  and  thanked  them. 
**  This  it  is  to  have  good  men  to  deal  with,  that 
they  will  save  a  man  from  his  own  wickedness. 
I  am  ashamed  of  my  despair,  for  I  ought  to 
have  had  faith  in  God,  and  lost  it.  If  you  had 
done  my  bidding  and  after  that  we  had  found  a 
way  to  escape  alive,  I  should  never  have  been 
able  to  hold  up  my  head.  But  my  troubles 
are  too  much  for  me  just  now,  and  I  suffer 
greatly. ' ' 

It  seemed  like  an  answer  to  honesty  that  there 
was  heavy  rain  that  day.  It  set  in  in  the  after- 
noon and  rained  most  of  the  night.    They  used 


114  THOEGILS 

their  tent  to  convoy  the  water  into  a  hole  in  the 
rocks,  and  saw  their  way  to  another  twenty- 
four  hours  of  life.  But  before  those  were  spent 
they  were  to  have  their  boat  again. 


CHAPTER   XIII 


THE   BOAT    COMES    BACK 


EARLY  in  the  morning  it  was,  earlier  than 
Thorgils '  hour  for  getting  out  of  his  bed 
— he  was  awoken  by  a  shouting;  he  heard 
voices  of  men,  calling  in  a  tongue  which  he  had 
never  heard  before.  He  jumped  up  and  out  of 
the  tent.  There,  but  a  little  way  out  from  the 
shore,  was  his  coracle,  with  two  creatures  in  it, 
men  or  women,  he  knew  not  which.  When  they 
saw  him  they  made  signs  with  their  arms  and 
began  to  pull  in  shore ;  and  now  he  saw  that  they 
had  a  burden  with  them,  a  man  alive  or  dead 
who  lay  still  with  his  head  turned  sideways, 
limply  hanging,  as  if  he  had  no  power  in  his 
neck.  He  was  rolled  up  in  a  blanket ;  and  Thor- 
gils knew  the  blanket  before  he  knew  the  man. 
It  was  his  own,  had  been  upon  a  bed  in  the  hall 
at  Thorgils  Bay.  ^*  Here  is  one  of  Thorey's 
slayers  come  into  my  hands,"  he  said  to  him- 
self, and  a  dreadful  cheer  rose  up  in  his  heart. 
By  now  the  boat  was  brought  in ;  the  two  women 

115 


116  THORGILS 

who  were  dressed  like  men  and  had  their  legs 
swathed  in  skins  haled  it  ashore;  then  stood 
with  beaming  broad  faces,  waiting  for  Thorgils. 
They  had  no  fear  of  him  at  all,  but  talked  very- 
fast  and  both  together,  pointing  to  one  of  the 
distant  islands,  and  enacting  by  gesture  their 
discovery  of  the  boat,  the  sick  man  at  home,  the 
theft  of  the  boat,  and  the  passaging  of  the  sick 
man.  Thorgils  had  no  trouble  in  making  out  the 
whole  tale.  He  understood  that  they  must  have 
seen  the  landing  of  his  party  from  a  distance ; 
but  how  they  reached  him  without  a  boat,  or 
how  they  intended  to  get  back  again,  was  at 
present  beyond  his  comprehension.  However, 
that  only  puzzled  him  afterwards ;  just  now  he 
was  taken  up  with  the  passenger.  That  was 
Thorarin  the  reeve,  with  a  lead-coloured  face 
and  the  heavy  solemn  eyes  of  a  man  in  the  pres- 
ence of  death.  There,  he  thought,  helpless  be- 
fore him  and  entirely  in  his  power  lay  one  of  his 
wife's  murderers,  one  of  the  wretches  who,  for 
all  they  knew,  had  left  their  master  and  his 
family  to  a  certain  and  miserable  death.  Even 
as  he  thought  it,  he  felt  pity  for  the  stricken 
man.  Whatever  he  was,  had  done  or  had  been 
enforced  to  do,  he  must  be  tended  now.     He 


THE  BOAT  COMES  BACK  117 

shouted  for  Thorlaf,  who  with  Col  came  push- 
ing out  of  the  tent.  They  lifted  the  reeve  and 
carried  him  in. 

Thorarin  became  conscious  after  an  anxious 
time  of  watching,  and  made  signs  that  he  was 
thirsty.  They  brought  him  water  in  the  kettle 
and  wet  his  lips  and  tongue.  After  that  he 
drank  from  the  spout,  and  drank  eagerly  as  if 
he  had  been  parched  with  drouth.  He  showed 
them  grateful  eyes;  but  Thorgils,  seeing  him 
now  somewhat  revived,  would  have  none  of  his 
gratitude,  and  bent  his  brows  upon  him.  The 
others  all  sat  or  stood  about  him,  and  he  seemed 
to  know  what  was  expected  of  him,  for  he  made 
more  than  one  effort  to  begin ;  and  they  saw  the 
sweat  beading  on  his  temples  with  the  exertion. 

Presently  he  came  to  himself  again  and  said  a 
few  words.  **  Tied  up,"  they  heard  him  say, 
''  hand  and  foot."  That  told  them  all  that  they 
wanted  to  know.  Thorgils  knew  a  great  relief — 
of  thralls  you  may  expect  thralls'  deeds ;  but  he 
had  used  this  man  as  his  friend. 

Afterwards  he  told  them  his  story.  He  said 
that  he  could  not  get  the  men  off  in  the  boat  for 
a  long  time  after  the  climbing-party  had 
started.    They  hung  about  and  made  excuses. 


118  .THORGILS 

Then,  when  he  had  them  all  down  at  the  shore 
and  half  the  gear  bestowed,  Snae-Coll,  who 
seemed  to  be  ringleader,  folded  his  arms  and 
said  that  he  did  not  intend  to  go  fishing  that 
day.  The  rest  stood  round  in  a  ring,  murmur- 
ing, all  looking  at  him  (Thorarin).  There  was 
a  wrangle,  high  words — *  *  and  it  may  be  that  I 
spoke  more  freely  than  I  should  '' — then,  sud- 
denly, Snae-Coll  sprang  at  him  and  threw  him 
down.  They  tied  him  up  like  a  bale  of  netting 
and  left  him  on  the  shore.  They  themselves  all 
went  up  to  the  house  in  a  body.  After  hanging 
about  the  door,  all  talking  vehemently,  he  saw 
Snae-Coll  go  in  alone.  He  waited  in  terror  for 
what  he  knew  must  be.  Then  he  heard  a  cry, 
and  then  Snae-Coll  must  have  come  to  the  door ; 
for  all  the  others  went  in. 

They  were  a  good  time  inside  the  house,  but 
presently  they  began  to  come  out.  Every  man 
had  a  burden — they  had  gutted  the  house ;  and 
everything  was  piled  in  the  boat.  When  she 
was  full  two  of  them  rowed  off  to  the  ship.  So 
it  went  on  until  a  wind  got  up,  and  they  thought 
it  time  to  be  otf.  They  took  Thorarin  himself 
in  the  last  load,  hauled  up  the  anchor,  hoisted 
sail  and  stood  out  for  the  open  sea.    Not  until 


THE  BOAT  COMES  BACK  119 

they  were  out  of  tlie  bay  did  they  cut  his  bonds. 
Then  Snae-Coll,  who  was  captain  of  them  all, 
spoke  to  him  freely.  He  said  that  for  the  better 
part  of  a  year — ever  since  the  ship-building  be- 
gan— they  had  been  talking  among  themselves 
of  a  stroke  for  their  freedom.  *  *  We  thought  that 
death  must  be  the  end  of  it,  and  that  it  was 
better  to  die  free  than  bond. ' '  The  mutiny  had 
been  devised  suddenly,  for  they  had  not  seen 
their  way  before  they  heard  that  all  the  masters 
were  going  together  to  the  top  of  the  crags. 
**  Now,"  said  Snae-Coll,  **  we  give  you  your 
choice.  Either  you  shall  serve  with  us  for  our 
common  safety,  or  we  presently  heave  you  over- 
board. "Which  do  you  choose  1  ' '  Thorarin  con- 
fessed that  he  had  agreed  to  work  with  them, 
having  a  lingering  hope  in  his  head  that  if  he 
could  contrive  to  tip  Snae-Coll  into  the  sea  he 
might  cow  the  others,  'bout  ship,  and  rejoin  his 
masters.  Thorgils,  listening  with  his  chin  in 
his  hand,  nodded  his  head ;  but  said  nothing. 

They  made  the  islands,  Thorarin  said,  and 
stayed  there  for  the  winter.  They  found  one  at 
least  of  them  inhabited,  and  got  on  pretty  well 
with  the  natives,  each  taking  a  girl  for  a  wife. 
They  made  these  girls  work  for  them,  but  did 


120  THORGILS 

nothing  themselves.  Then,  as  soon  as  the 
weather  mended  and  the  spring  of  the  year  set 
in,  they  made  np  their  minds  to  leave  the  is- 
lands. He  could  not  find  out  whither  they  in- 
tended to  go,  nor  did  he  know  what  suspicion 
may  have  brought  it  about  that  they  settled  to 
leave  him  behind.  That  was  what  they  did,  at 
all  events.  He  saw  them  weigh  anchor  and  sail 
away.  They  went  South  at  first,  but  altered 
their  course  afterwards,  and  sailed  East  before 
a  Westerly  wind. 

He  lived  with  the  natives  of  the  island  and 
they  had  been  good  to  him ;  but  he  had  long  been 
ailing,  and  got  worse  and  worse.  Then  he  un- 
derstood from  the  gestures  of  the  women  who 
looked  after  him  that  they  had  seen  something 
or  somebody  out  at  sea.  They  left  him  and  were 
away  all  day ;  and  when  they  came  back  it  was 
to  wrap  him  in  his  blanket  and  carry  him  down 
to  the  coracle.  He  had  a  thought  in  his  head 
that  he  should  see  something  good  before  he 
died,  but  knew  he  was  not  long  for  this  world. 
''  You  will  bury  me  here,  I  daresay,"  he  said; 
**  but  I  would  ask  of  you,  master,  to  believe 
what  I  am  telling  you,  and  to  carry  a  kind 
thought  of  me  back  home  with  you.    For  you 


THE  BOAT  COMES  BACK  121 

will  reach  home  again,  I  am  very  sure."  That 
was  all  he  seemed  able  to  say;  for  he  shut  his 
eyes,  and  breathed  short  and  sharp  through  his 
nose. 

Thorgils  said,  *  *  God  knows  how  far  you  have 
done  right  or  wrong.  I  cannot  think  that  you 
would  be  lying  just  now,  and  you  at  the  gateway 
of  death.  However  it  may  be,  you  shall  die  in 
peace,  and  have  the  burial  of  a  Christian."  He 
opened  his  eyes  once  and  looked  at  Thorgils, 
who  knew  then  that  he  had  told  no  lies.  After 
that  he  lay  quite  still  for  a  longish  time,  and 
presently  they  found  that  he  was  dead. 

They  buried  him  in  a  hurry,  took  to  their 
boat,  and  made  haste  to  the  island  where  all 
their  stores  were.  Thorgils  said  that  they 
would  not  stay  there  much  longer,  but  would 
risk  a  journey  to  the  mainland.  There  was  full 
half  the  summer  left. 


CHAPTER   XIV 

A     WELCOME     FEOM     THE     MAINLAND 

WITH  such  stores  of  food  and  water  as 
they  could  compass  in  the  coracle, 
they  rowed  away  from  the  islands  on 
the  first  ebb.  It  was  hot ;  a  still  day ;  the  cliffs 
and  mountains  of  Greenland  could  be  seen 
through  the  brown  haze,  rising  into  white  peaks 
above  it,  themselves  looking  like  the  clouds. 
Thorgils  kept  a  North-easterly  course,  making 
out  that  he  might  be  within  hail  of  the  land  in 
from  ten  to  twelve  hours.  A  little  wind  got  up 
about  an  hour  before  noon;  they  hoisted  their 
sail  and  made  better  speed. 

Their  hearts  were  now  high  with  hope,  and 
even  Thorgils  began  to  be  easier  in  his  mind. 
He  told  them  a  dream  he  had  had  last  night. 
''  1  was  at  home  at  Treadholt,''  he  said,  ''  and 
five  candles  were  burning  on  the  floor  by  my 
knee;  and  there  was  a  thief  in  the  biggest  of 
them.  Then  presently  a  woman  came  in  at  the 
door  and  stood  there  looking  at  me;  who  then 

123 


WELCOME  FROM  THE  MAINLAND   123 

came  down  the  hall  quickly,  and  snuffed  the 
candle  that  had  a  thief  in  it  with  her  fingers. 
*  A  fine  dripping  mess  you  suffer  here,'  she 
said,  and  then,  ^  Do  you  come  into  the  garth 
with  me  and  answer  for  that  theft  shown  in  the 
candle.  You  have  taken  away  my  eggs,'  she 
said,  *  and  eaten  them — and  what  I  am  to  do  I 
can't  tell.'  "  **  Yes,"  said  Thorfinn,  who  had 
been  listening  to  all  this;  ^^  and  then  she  said 
that  her  children  had  taken  away  our  boat." 
<<  Why,"  said  Thorgils,  **  what's  the  meaning 
of  this?  Did  you  see  the  woman  too,  my  lad?  " 
Thorgils  nodded.  **  Yes,  yes,  I  saw  her.  She 
showed  her  legs  like  a  man,  and  she  was  so  big 
round."  He  stretched  his  arms  out  to  make  a 
hoop.  **  Now,"  said  Thorlaf,  **  you  shall  hear 
my  dream.  I  was  at  home  with  you,  and  we 
were  sitting  at  board.  Thorny  came  in  with  a 
trencher  on  which  were  blocks  of  cheese.  She 
went  along  the  table  dealing  out  the  cheese,  and 
when  she  came  to  me,  she  stayed  awhile,  picking 
over  what  was  left,  and  then  she  gave  me  a  piece 
with  all  the  rind  pared  away.  '  There's  for 
you,'  she  said.  It  was  a  good  cheese  too,  for  I 
dreamed  that  I  ate  it."  Thorgils  said,  "  That's 
a  lucky  dream  of  yours.   I  read  from  it  that  we 


124  THORGILS 

shall  go  home  again,  and  that  you  and  Thorny 
will  make  a  match  of  it. ' '  *  *  I  read  it, '  ^  Starkad 
said,  *  *  that  we  have  got  over  the  worst  of  our 
luck,  and  are  now  come  down  to  the  meaty  part 
of  it.'' 

The  luck  of  the  day  held,  at  any  rate;  for 
they  were  near  enough  now  to  the  land  to  see 
the  waves  breaking  on  the  cliffs.  They  made 
out  Cape  Farewell,  thrusting  out  a  flat  green 
neb  far  into  the  sea,  and  kept  that  upon  their 
lee.  Thorgils  intended  to  shelter  in  the  firth 
which  he  had  seen  from  the  mountain-top,  which 
lay  as  he  thought  just  North  of  the  Cape,  and 
which,  as  he  made  out,  was  where  Eric  the  Red 
had  settled  himself.  He  and  his  men  were  now 
very  tired ;  but  the  tide  served  them,  and  though 
the  wind  had  dropped  there  was  no  sea  to  speak 
of.  Late  at  night  they  entered  a  great  arm  of 
the  ocean  between  shelving  shores  covered  with 
wood,  and  on  the  northern  shore  they  stayed 
them,  and  made  a  tent  for  the  night.  They  were 
lucky  enough  to  find  a  spring  of  fresh  water 
within  reach. 

Next  morning  they  re-embarked,  and  pulled 
up  the  firth.  They  rowed  until  well  into  the  af- 
ternoon, and  began  to  see  signs  of  habitancy. 


WELCOME  FROM  THE  MAINLAND   125 

^*  We  are  come  among  men  again,  God  be 
thanked,''  Thorgils  said.  They  saw  wood,  cut 
and  corded;  they  saw  a  boat  on  the  shore;  pres- 
ently they  saw  a  boat-house  built  under  the 
shelter  of  a  spit  of  land,  and  round  the  point  of 
that  a  ship,  riding  at  anchor;  and  then  a  home- 
stead. 

It  brought  the  tears  into  Thorgils '  eyes  to  see 
so  fair  a  sight  as  this :  a  timber  house  of  broad 
eaves,  smoke  from  a  chimney  in  the  midst  of  it, 
fields  of  ripe  grain,  a  man  reaping  barley  with 
a  hook.  In  the  yard  of  the  house  there  was  a 
girl  hanging  clothes  on  a  line.  A  prick-eared 
dog  came  racing  and  barking  down  to  the  edge 
of  the  water,  sat  up  there,  high  on  his  haunches, 
and  watched  them.  ' '  We  are  saved  alive  from 
the  desolation,"  said  Thorgils;  and  they  pulled 
into  the  shore. 

The  reaper  now  came  down  to  meet  them.  He 
and  the  voyagers  stood  at  first  looking  at  each 
other ;  then  Thorgils  said,  * '  Give  you  hail,  mas- 
ter,'' and  the  man  answered  in  his  own  tongue. 
There  was  no  need  to  ask  whence  they  were 
come,  for  it  was  evident  upon  them. 

Heriolf  was  this  settler 's  name ;  he  was  a  Nor- 
wegian, and  a  good  soul.    He  took  them  all  up 


126  THORGILS 

to  his  little  house;  his  wife  and  girls  came  out 
to  greet  them ;  very  soon  they  were  sitting  at  a 
board,  and  a  bowl  of  milk  in  front  of  Thorfinn, 
not  at  all  used  to  such  food.  There  was  much 
to  say  on  both  sides ;  but  first  of  all  they  learned 
that  Eric's  settlement  was  not  in  this  firth  at 
all,  but  two  days'  sail  northward  of  it.  Heriolf 
had  belonged  there,  but  had  got  into  trouble, 
and  was  now  an  outlaw.  How  was  that?  Well, 
he  had  killed  a  man  for  good  cause — so  he  said 
— and  had  not  been  able  to  clear  himself.  He 
was  well  enough  here,  where  he  had  been  for 
two  years  now. 

**  But  I  would  go  back  if  I  could,"  he  said. 
i  i  There  are  very  few  here  yet,  good  land  though 
it  be ;  and  what  men  come  are  mostly  here  for 
the  same  reason  as  mine.  Now  a  man  may 
settle  with  himself  whether  or  not  he  had  cause 
to  kill  another  man,  but  for  all  that  he  may  not 
judge  the  case  of  others;  nor  need  he  desire 
the  company  of  manslayers  for  the  rest  of  his 
life.  If  I  could  inlaw  myself  again  I  would 
leave  this  place  to-morrow."  Thorgils  said 
that  they  might  see  about  that  by-and-by;  and 
then,  having  told  something  of  his  adventures 
and  misfortunes,  asked  whether  Heriolf  had 


WELCOME  FROM  THE  MAINLAND   127 

seen  anything  of  his  ship  and  the  robbers  on 
board  her.  Heriolf  described  a  ship  which  had 
come  in  the  summer  before,  but  had  not  come 
ashore.  So  far  as  he  knew  there  had  been  ten 
on  board  of  her,  but  they  said  that  they  had  lost 
some  of  their  company  in  a  gale.  He  described 
the  master  of  the  vessel  in  such  a  way  that  they 
thought  it  must  be  Snae-Coll  himself.  They 
had  stayed  a  week  and  provisioned  their  ship, 
said  Heriolf,  and  then  had  turned  about  and 
gone  out  to  sea  again.  He  had  told  them  where 
the  great  settlement  was.  '*  You'll  find  them 
there,  I  expect.'*  Thorgils  said  that  there  were 
accounts  to  be  regulated  with  these  men;  and 
he  thought  that  he  should  do  his  best  to  find 
Eric's  firth  before  the  summer  was  ended. 

However,  what  with  weariness  of  the  sea  and 
the  hospitality  of  Heriolf  and  his  family,  and 
the  fondness  there  grew  up  to  be  between  the 
women  and  Thorfinn,  they  spent  the  winter  at 
the  homestead,  and  indeed  the  following  spring 
and  summer.  Esteem  grew  between  Thorgils 
and  Heriolf,  and  a  firm  friendship.  But  after 
the  next  year's  harvest  Thorgils  said  that  he 
must  certainly  be  off. 

Heriolf  offered  him  his  ship  and  all  the  stores 


128  THOEGILS 

he  would  need,  and  Thorgils  said  that  he 
couldn't  refuse  such  a  chance.  **  But  how  shall 
I  repay  you,  my  friend  ?  ' '  *  *  As  for  that, ' '  said 
Heriolf,  **  you  shall  send  me  the  price  of  her 
when  you  can ;  but  there  is  a  thing  dearer  to  me 
than  the  money.  If  you  can  arrange  for  my  re- 
turn to  the  settlement  with  Eric  the  Red,  you 
will  repay  me  the  value  of  five  such  ships  as 
mine."  ^*  I'll  do  that,'' said  Thorgils.  '^  Eric 
and  I  are  long  acquaintances."  ^^  You  won't 
find  him  he  man  he  used  to  be,"  Heriolf  told 
him.  *^  He  is  something  of  a  king  in  the  set- 
tlement, and  fond  of  his  own  way.  But,"  he 
went  on,  *'  I  shall  have  good  luck  from  you,  I 
know.  You  yourself,  if  I  know  anything  of  men, 
have  a  kind  of  greatness  in  you.  You  bear  both 
fortunes  equally  well."  Then,  as  the  tale  says, 
they  blessed  each  other,  and  Thorgils  sailed 
away  out  of  the  firth. 


CHAPTER   XV 

THEY    FIND    EKIO    THE    EED 

THEY  came  to  the  mouth  of  Eric's  firth  in 
October,  just  when  winter  had  begun, 
and  sailed  up  into  the  land  until  they  met 
with  signs  of  habitancy,  which  was  a  good 
twelve  hours'  sailing.  There  was  good  land  on 
either  side  the  firth,  but  not  so  good,  Thorgils 
judged,  as  that  which  they  had  left.  The  moun- 
tains were  higher,  and  the  shores  narrower; 
they  saw  great  glaciers  glittering  in  the  sun 
which  at  midwinter  would  bring  the  ice  hum- 
mocks down  to  the  water's  edge.  Notwith- 
standing, it  was  a  fine  country,  and  the  snow  not 
yet  thick  upon  it. 

They  came  to  the  shipping,  and  a  quay, 
berthed  their  ship,  and  prepared  to  go  ashore. 
But  before  they  were  ready  they  saw  another 
ship  coming  in  behind  them.  She  had  the  same 
wind,  and  was  making  for  the  same  mooring- 
place.  Thorgils  knew  her  rig  for  a  ship  from 
home.    **  Good  tidings!  "  he  said,  and  sent  off 

129 


130  THORGILS 

Thorlaf  and  Col  to  meet  her.  They  boarded  the 
merchantman,  on  whose  after-deck  there  sat  a 
broad-shouldered  man  in  red.  Directly  he  saw 
them  come  on  board  he  was  up  and  came  to  meet 
them.  ''  Hail!  '^  he  said,  ''  and  who  may  you 
heV^  They  told  him  their  names,  and  in  whose 
company  they  were.  **  Why,''  said  the  man, 
**  this  is  fine  news.  I  am  Thorstan  White,  and 
am  just  come  from  your  country.  Is  Thorgils 
aboard  your  vessel?  "  They  said.  Yes.  ''  Then 
let  me  go  and  see  him." 

There  was  a  good  greeting  between  them, 
much  to  hear  and  learn.  Thorstan  said  that  he 
had  been  in  Norway,  expecting  Thorlaf  to  come 
back ;  but  when  there  was  no  sign  of  him  he  be- 
came uneasy  and  fitted  out  a  ship  with  merchan- 
dise and  sailed  over  to  Iceland.  He  went  up  to 
Treadholt  and  found  all  well  there.  ^*  Your 
brother  Haering  has  all  in  hand,  and  holds  his 
own  well  with  Asgrim  and  his  friends.  He  was 
uneasy  about  you,  having  heard  nothing  for 
four  winters.''  ''  Is  that  all  it  is?  "  Thorgils 
said,  ''I  had  thought  it  had  been  twenty." 
Then  he  asked  about  Thorny.  She  was  mar- 
ried, it  seems,  to  a  man  called  Bearne  of  the 
Pit,  Thorstan  Gode's  son— this  Thorstan  Gode 


THEY  FIND  ERIC  THE  RED        131 

being  a  new-comer.  Thorgils  said  little  about  it, 
but  was  not  greatly  pleased  with  the  news.  **  I 
could  have  found  her  a  better  husband/'  was 
all  that  he  had  to  say. 

But  nothing  could  have  been  better  than  this 
meeting  with  Thorstan  White.  *  *  I  am  lucky  to 
have  fallen  in  with  you  so  soon/'  he  said. 
**  Now  you  are  to  make  what  use  you  will  of 
me,  of  me  and  my  gear.  It  is  all  at  your  serv- 
ice, as  much  as  at  my  own.  I  tell  you  so  fairly 
before  these  lads,  and  will  never  go  back  on  my 
word." 

Thorgils  was  touched.  *'  I  had  forgotten,  to 
my  shame,  what  good  friends  I  had.  But  it  is 
true  that  we  have  known  dark  days. ' '  Thorstan 
asked  him,  What  was  the  worst  of  all  that  he 
had  felt?  and  for  a  time  got  no  answer;  but 
presently  Thorgils  told  him.  **  To  see  that 
hut  upon  the  wild  shore  standing  still  by  itself, 
and  to  fear  misfortune  within  it — that  was  bad. 
But  nothing  was  worse  than  this,  to  have  taken 
a  beautiful  girl  from  her  foster  mother,  strong 
and  fresh  in  her  youth,  and  to  see  her  lying  dead 
in  her  cold  bed,  wasted  and  made  old  by  misery 
before  her  time — that,  Thorstan,  made  an  old 
man  of  me ;  and  I  doubt  I  shall  get  over  that. 


132  THOEGILS 

Never  yet  have  I  forgotten  the  sight  of  her 
wide-open  eyes,  which  had  seen  terror,  and 
should  see  nothing  else;  and  that  child  there 
groping  upon  her  for  the  means  of  life/'  **  It 
was  bad,''  said  Thorstan  Wliite,  **  yet  you  are 
alive,  and  the  boy  is  alive."  *'  I  have  often 
wished  he  was  not,"  said  Thorgils,  but  told 
nothing  of  how  near  Thorfinn  had  been  to  death 
since  then. 

They  stayed  for  the  night  where  they  were, 
and  in  the  morning  weighed  anchor  and  rowed 
the  ships  further  up  the  firth ;  for  Eric  did  not 
live  by  that  haven,  but  in  another,  where  he  had 
a  large  settlement,  and  lived  in  a  fine  stone 
house,  like  an  Earl.  The  two  ships  went  up  to- 
gether, and  found  Eric's  haven,  and  a  town 
built  there.  Then  they  unloaded  the  merchan- 
dise, and  stored  it,  and  went  into  the  market 
to  see  the  inhabitants.  They  found  numbers  of 
acquaintances,  who  gave  Thorgils  a  good  greet- 
ing. News  of  him  soon  reached  Eric  the  Red, 
sitting  in  his  hall  and  hearing  lawsuits.  *  *  Bid 
him  come  to  me,"  said  the  great  man,  and  went 
on  with  his  lawsuits.  Thorgils,  who  was  both 
busy  and  interested,  received  the  message,  but 
didn't  answer  it  other  than  by  saying,  **I  will 


THEY  FIND  ERIC  THE  RED        133 

see  him  by-and-by.^'  It  is  thought  that  Eric 
was  offended,  but  it  may  be  that  Thorgils  him- 
self was  so.  The  fact  is  that  the  two  men,  who 
had  been  four  years,  since  the  summons,  in  com- 
ing together,  did  not  hit  it  off  with  each  other 
when  they  met. 

Outwardly  there  was  some  show  of  cordiality. 
Thorgils  went  into  the  stone  house  when  Eric 
and  some  of  his  friends  were  sitting  there,  wait- 
ing for  supper.  All  men  stood  up  to  meet  him, 
except  Eric  himself.  He  called  out,  **  Hail  to 
you,  traveller,"  before  he  drank.  Thorgils, 
whose  leanness  made  him  appear  both  older  and 
taller  than  he  really  was,  walked  up  to  the  high 
seat,  looking  neither  to  right  nor  left  of  him. 
When  he  came  to  where  Eric  was  sitting  he 
greeted  him  well.  *  ^  You  have  taken  your  time, 
neighbour,"  says  Eric.  **  It  has  taken  me  more 
than  time,"  said  Thorgils.  ^'  Meat  off  your 
bones,  my  friend,"  says  Eric,  **  and  company 
to  boot. ' '  Thorgils  said  nothing  more,  but  when 
they  sat  to  supper  Eric  gave  him  the  next  seat 
to  himself ;  Thorstan  White  sat  next,  then  Thor- 
laf ,  Col,  and  Starkad.  They  made  merry,  and 
most  of  them  talked  at  once ;  but  Thorgils,  who 
was  never  much  of  a  talker,  said  little.     No 


134  '  THORGILS 

doubt  he  felt  that  he  had  come  a  long  journey 
for  very  little ;  and  no  doubt  his  mind  ran  upon 
the  two  graves  side  by  side  in  the  desert  bay. 

But  he  told  Eric  of  the  misfortunes  which  had 
befallen  him,  and  got  some  news  which  he 
wanted.  Eric  said,  *^  Those  rascals  of  yours 
are  in  this  country.  I  have  heard  tell  of  them, 
though  they  weren't  so  hardy  as  to  come  here. 
Their  ship  came  in  last  fall;  they  sent  a  man 
ashore  for  victual  and  drink,  chiefly  drink. 
They  said  that  they  were  from  Iceland,  but  had 
lost  their  bearings  in  a  storm,  been  driven  on  to 
the  Seal  Islands,  held  there  all  the  summer. 
The  master  of  the  vessel  had  died  out  there, 
they  said,  and  several  more  of  the  company. 
They  sold  two  girls  in  the  market,  and  were  off 
before  I  could  come  at  them  to  ask  for  news  of 
you.  They  went  up  the  firth — and  took  up  some 
land  in  settlement,  I  believe.  It  would  be  worth 
your  while  to  go  up  there  one  of  these  days. 
They  may  be  the  very  men. "  *  *  They  may  be, ' ' 
said  Thorgils — ^but  seemed  to  take  no  great  in- 
terest in  them. 

Thorgils  built  himself  a  house  against  the 
winter,  and  took  himself  into  it  with  Thorfinn, 
and  the  three  young  men,  who  would  not  leave 


THEY  FIND  ERIC  THE  RED        135 

him.  Starkad  married  a  daughter  of  Thorstan 
"White  called  Bergthora.  She  kept  house  for  the 
five  of  them.  They  did  not  see  much  of  Eric 
the  Red,  who  nevertheless  was  always  urging 
Thorgils  to  take  up  land  and  settle  there.  Thor- 
gils  said  that  there  was  no  hurry  about  that. 
The  land  would  not  run  away;  whereas  he 
might.  Anyhow,  he  said,  he  would  look  about 
him ;  and  if  he  saw  anything  which  tempted  him, 
they  could  talk  about  it  afterwards.  **  There's 
no  man  I  would  sooner  have  on  my  land  than 
yourself,''  Eric  said,  and  made  Thorgils  raise 
one  of  his  eyebrows.  He  didn't  see  the  use  of 
saying  anything;  but  his  thought  was,  that  no 
land  which  he  took  would  be  Eric's  land.  It 
would  be  Thorgils'  land,  according  to  his 
notion. 

The  house  he  had  built  for  himself  stood  out- 
side the  town,  towards  the  mountains.  They 
began  to  rise  about  six  hours'  journey  away. 
That  winter,  as  it  happened,  much  damage  was 
done  to  flocks  by  a  white  bear,  which  had  come 
down  the  glacier  and  lay  about  in  the  daytime. 
No  man  could  find  him,  and  a  price  was  set  upon 
his  carcass,  which  was  levied  on  all  the  settlers. 
He  was  out  there  all  the  winter,  and  the  damage 


136  THORGILS 

done  was  serious.  It  was  getting  well  on  to- 
wards the  spring,  though  the  snow  was  still 
heavily  on  the  land,  when  Thorstan  White  and 
a  number  of  the  townspeople  were  up  at  Thor- 
gils '  house.  A  ship  had  come  in,  and  the  chap- 
men had  stored  their  goods  in  the  bower  up 
there.  One  morning  when  they  were  all  in  the 
store-house,  cheapening  the  merchandise,  Thor- 
finn,  who  had  been  running  to  and  fro  between 
house  and  bower,  peered  into  the  place  and 
called,  *^  Father,  father!" 

Thorgils  looked  up  from  his  affair.  *'  What 
now,  my  son?  " 

**  Oh,  father,"  said  Thorfinn,  **  there's  such 
a  great  dog  out  here  in  the  garth.  You  never 
saw.  He's  as  fat  as  fat,  and  yellow  all  over — 
and  no  tail  to  him." 

Thorgils  had  no  suspicions.  *'  Never  you 
mind  it,  lad,"  he  said ;  *'  but  you  had  better  stop 
in  here.    Don 't  go  out,  but  leave  the  dog  alone. ' ' 

He  went  on  with  his  reckoning ;  but  presently 
he  heard  a  cry  from  outside. 

'*  Oh,  oh — ^he's  taking  me  away!  " 

They  all  sprang  round,  and  in  a  flash  Thor- 
gils knew  what  the  dog  must  be.  He  drew 
Earth-house-prey — which  had  never   left  him 


THEY  FIND  ERIC  THE  RED        137 

yet — and  ran  out  of  the  bower.  They  all  made 
way  for  him.  Then  he  saw  the  great  fiat-headed 
beast,  squatting  on  his  hams  in  the  snow,  and 
Thorfinn  like  a  girPs  doll  in  his  black  mouth. 
He  was  wagging  his  fond  head  about,  and  the 
child  looked  to  be  dead. 

Thorgils  turned  sick  with  fear,  and  then  his 
anger  rose  in  him  like  a  tide  of  hot  water.  He 
was  close  upon  them  in  a  moment  and  hewed  at 
the  bear  with  all  his  might.  He  hit  him  on  the 
flat  of  his  skull  between  the  ears — and  split  it 
open.  The  huge  creature  fell  in  a  huddle  of  fur 
and  meat,  and  Thorfinn  dropped  out  of  his 
mouth.  He  was  insensible,  but  had  no  bones 
broken,  and  no  hurt  to  speak  of  beyond  some 
bruises.  Thorgils,  who  hardly  knew  what  he 
had  done,  carried  the  child  into  the  house  and 
stayed  with  him  until  he  had  recovered  himself ; 
but  all  the  others  gathered  about  the  bear,  and 
one  of  them  pelted  off  to  spread  the  news  in  the 
town. 

There  was  high  excitement  over  it,  and  Thor- 
gils '  fame  grew  beyond  belief.  That  same  day 
a  number  of  the  people  about  came  up  with  their 
share  of  the  bear-money.  They  told  the  news  to 
Eric  the  Red,  who  showed  himself  true  to  his 


138  THORGILS 

name  over  it.  At  first  he  was  quite  put  out. 
**  Well,  well — and  what  is  it  to  me?  I  never 
supposed  the  man  was  in  his  dotage. ' '  But  he 
sent  some  of  his  people  down  to  have  the  beast 
cut  up.  Thorgils  had  the  skin  and  the  teeth,  as 
his  due.  Later  on  Eric  seemed  to  make  little  of 
the  affair,  saying  that  a  woman  would  have 
done  as  much  as  that  in  defence  of  her  child. 
Thorstan  White  then  said,  **  Yes,  and  have 
been  mauled  for  her  pains.  It  takes  a  man  and 
a  sword  to  split  a  bear's  skull  in  two.*'  Eric 
nodded,  looking  as  if  he  was  thinking  of  some- 
thing more  important.  Following  his  lead, 
many  of  those  about  him  made  light  of  Thorgils 
and  his  renown ;  others  took  the  other  side,  and 
the  talk  grew  high.  The  one  who  said  least 
about  it  was  Thorgils  himself ;  but  it  is  probable 
that  he  knew  everything  that  was  debated,  and 
certain  that  he  was  aware  of  the  coolness  grow- 
ing between  Eric  and  himself.  As  often  hap- 
pens, a  growing  coolness  is  apt  to  break  sud- 
denly into  a  flame  of  heat.    So  it  did  now. 


CHAPTER   XVI 


COL   INVOLVED  AGAIN 


ERIC  the  Red  declared  that  he  was  sick 
and  tired  of  the  bear  and  Thorgils' 
glory;  but  in  spite  of  that  men  talked 
round  about  it,  having  little  else  to  do  before 
the  spring  weather  broke  up  the  ice  in  the  firth. 
At  such  times  of  year  as  this,  between  the  stern 
winter  and  the  grace  of  the  warm  rain,  men 
hang  about  the  hall,  drinking  more  than  they 
need,  and  talking  louder  than  they  ought.  Col, 
Thorlaf,  and  Starkad  always  kept  together; 
they  had  a  strong  following  among  the  sons  and 
friends  of  Thorstan  White.  On  the  other  side 
were  Eric's  followers  and  servants.  They  were 
fond  of  matching  one  champion  against  another 
— all  tongue-work — and  weren't  too  particular 
what  they  said.  So  it  was  that  Thorgils  was  set 
up  against  Eric  and  the  tales  climbed  as  high  as 
the  church-steeple.  A  man  called  Hall,  a  serv- 
ant of  Eric's,  grew  very  bitter  over  it,  and 

139 


140  THORGILS 

scoffed  the  pretensions  of  Thorgils.  **  Wliat 
does  it  amount  to,  when  alPs  said  I  That  he  has 
been  shipwrecked,  and  lost  his  wife,  lost  his 
ship,  lost  his  thralls,  and  come  in  here  with  the 
clothes  he  stands  up  in  not  his  own.  And  you 
set  a  man  like  that  against  Eric  the  Eed,  who 
has  harried  in  England  as  far  as  Dovercourt, 
and  is  feared  half  over  Scotland  and  in  all  the 
Isles !  What  has  your  man  done  but  kill  a  bear 
to  save  a  baby?  That  is  a  woman's  business — 
and  to  see  him  with  that  child,  upon  my  soul, 
you  would  hardly  know  whether  he  is  man  or 
woman/'  This  he  said  in  a  blusterous  voice, 
rather  thick  with  beer  and  anger.  Col  grew 
very  red,  and  showed  him  hot  eyes.  '*  You  lie, 
and  know  that  you  are  a  liar,"  he  said.  **  Now 
repeat  your  lie."  Hall  stared  at  him,  and  grew 
red  in  turn.  **  That  I  will,"  he  said — and  did 
repeat  that  Thorgils  was  like  an  old  woman.  It 
was  his  last  word,  for  Col,  who  had  been  lean- 
ing on  a  spear  as  he  stood  by  the  open  door,  now 
drove  it  through  Hall's  neck  and  killed  him  on 
the  spot. 

There  was  a  great  uproar,  and  men  took  to 
their  weapons,  and  parted  off  into  sides.    In 


COL  INVOLVED  AGAIN  141 

the  middle  of  it  Eric  the  Red  came  in,  saw  the 
body  of  Hall  lying  in  a  pool  of  blood,  and  asked 
who  had  dared  to  do  this.  Col  avowed  his  deed. 
Then  Eric  was  in  a  great  rage.  *'  Take  that 
fellow,'*  he  said  to  his  people,  '^  and  bind  him." 
The  Thorgils  party  all  stood  about  Col,  pro- 
tecting him.  In  the  midst  of  the  bustle  and 
preparation  for  battle  Thorgils  walked  into  the 
hall.  He  was  very  quiet ;  as  he  always  was  in 
these  days.  **  You  seem  to  be  busy,"  he  said. 
''  What's  the  matter  here?  " 

All  gave  place  to  him,  as  if  he  had  been 
directly  concerned  in  the  affair;  then,  lying  in 
their  midst  he  saw  the  dead  man.  *  ^  There  has 
been  some  mischief  here,"  he  said.  **  Who  has 
done  this?  "  They  cried  CoPs  name  to  him, 
and  by  degrees  he  came  to  understand  what  had 
caused  HalPs  death.  Then  Eric,  having  seated 
himself  in  his  high  seat,  shouted  for  silence,  and 
said,  ^'  I  have  given  orders  that  your  man 
Col  be  taken  and  bound,  that  right  may  be 
done."  He  looked  at  Thorgils  sternly  as  he 
said  it. 

Thorgils  said,  **  It  is  not  for  me  to  deny  your 
right  to  weregeld ;  but  this  much  I  will  say,  that 
if  anybody  is  to  avenge  the  death  of  your  serv- 


142  THORGILS 

ant,  Eric,  it  is  yourself.  You  give  yourself  the 
airs  of  a  King  or  Earl  out  here ;  but  you  are  no 
King  or  Earl  over  me  and  my  friends,  but  a 
settler  in  a  new  land.  Give  no  orders,  then,  for 
you  will  not  be  obeyed,  but  rather  get  out  of 
that  seat  of  yours  and  come  down  and  do  what 
you  deem  fitting.  You  will  find  me  here  ready 
for  you,  as  I  always  have  been,  whether  for 
peace  or  for  strife." 

Eric  grew  very  red,  and  said  something  about 
impudence  which  must  be  taught  its  place. 
*  *  What  is  to  prevent  me  from  dealing  with  you 
as  my  powers  warrant,  do  you  suppose?  ''  he 
asked.  Thorgils*  answer  was  a  good  one.  It 
was  not  in  words ;  but  he  looked  down  upon  the 
pommel  of  Earth-house-prey  at  his  thigh.  He 
did  not  even  put  his  hand  to  the  sword.  It  was 
enough  that  he  looked  at  it.  It  was,  at  least, 
enough  for  the  men  crowded  in  the  hall,  who  had 
no  desire  to  see  the  new  settlement  cloven  by 
war.  They  collected  about  Eric  now,  and  rea- 
soned with  him,  while  Thorgils  stood  his 
ground,  and  men  who  had  been  wavering  hith- 
erto came  over  silently  to  his  side.  What  they 
knew  about  Thorgils  was  this,  that  he  was  slow 
to  wrath,  but  quite  without  fear.    What  they 


COL  INVOLVED  AGAIN  143 

knew  about  Eric  was — what  it  may  have  been. 
He  had  carried  matters  with  a  high  hand  so  far 
in  Greenland,  and  men  had  acquiesced  in  his 
dealings  because  no  one  of  them  had  seen  his 
way  to  question  them.  Now  there  stood  a  man 
out  before  him  with  flat  and  plain  questions,  and 
the  greater  part  of  them  thought  that  Thorgils 
was  right.  It  was  a  matter  now  between  Eric 
and  him.  Let  Eric  fight  his  own  quarrel,  but 
not  sit  in  a  chair  and  give  orders.  It  may  be 
that  Eric  did  not  incline  to  a  wager  of  battle 
with  such  a  man  as  Thorgils,  and  the  less  so 
seeing  that  he  had  more  friends  than  had  been 
looked  for.  In  the  upshot  the  affair  was  settled 
between  them  on  reasonable  terms,  and  peace 
was  openly  declared.  But  Thorgils  had  now 
made  up  his  mind  to  go  home. 

Two  things  delayed  him.  One  was  to  obtain 
the  inlawry  of  Heriolf ,  his  friend  of  the  distant 
firth,  and  the  other  was  a  reckoning  with  Snae- 
Coll  the  thrall  and  his  gang  of  murderers.  The 
first  matter  was  not  hard.  He  argued  it  out 
with  Eric  and  his  advisers,  pledging  himself  as 
surety  for  Heriolf 's  peaceable  behaviour.  He 
had  the  satisfaction  of  seeing  a  ship  sail  to 


144  THOEGILS 

bring  the  man  home,  but  did  not  stay  himself 
to  welcome  him.  He  was  now  impatient  to  see 
Iceland  again.  But  he  had  work  left  him  to  do 
before  he  could  think  of  that. 


I 


CHAPTER   XVII 

THE   END    OF    THE    THKALLS 

HE  took  counsel  with  Thorstan  White, 
whose  advice  was  that  he  should  not 
kill  the  thralls  when  he  had  found  them ; 
but  he  would  say  nothing  about  that.  Then 
Thorstan  said  that  he  would  go  with  him,  since 
he  knew  within  a  little  just  where  they  would 
have  settled ;  and  Thorgils  said  Yes  to  that,  very 
heartily.  So  they  set  out  to  go  up  the  firth  in  a 
longboat,  and  after  they  had  passed  through  a 
forest  country  on  both  sides  of  the  water  they 
came  to  a  belt  of  good  land,  watered  by  a  river 
which  flowed  out  of  a  glacier,  and  after  that  to 
a  broad  creek.  They  rowed  up  the  creek  for 
two  hours,  and  then  saw  a  homestead  lying  in 
meadows.  There  was  a  landing-stage  and  boat 
moored  alongside  it.  Thorgils  knew  it  at  once. 
It  was  the  boat  which  had  come  with  him  out  of 
Iceland.  There  were  no  signs  of  his  ship, 
however. 
They  left  Thorlaf  in  the  boat,  and  went  on 

145 


146  THOEGILS 

shore.  Some  women  were  working  in  the  mead 
by  the  house,  and  a  man  lying  on  a  wall  watch- 
ing them.  A  dog  barked,  and  the  man  looked  up 
and  saw  them.  Presently  he  slipped  off  the  wall 
on  the  further  side  of  it,  but  Thorgils  noticed 
that  he  was  still  there ;  he  could  see  the  peak  of 
his  hood  over  the  wall.  The  party  continued  its 
way  and  reached  the  wall  which  bounded  the 
mead  towards  the  water.  The  women  ceased 
work  and  stood  up  to  watch  them ;  but  the  man 
behind  the  wall  stooped  and  ran,  and  presently 
they  saw  him  running  across  the  garth  towards 
the  house.  Col  saw  him  go — but  Thorgils 
said  he  had  seen  it  already  and  knew  who  it 
was. 

Now  the  women  came  to  them,  with  very  few 
words  which  could  be  understood.  They  were 
fat  women,  with  broad,  brown  faces,  who  looked 
to  be  both  good-tempered  and  foolish.  They  used 
strange  gestures,  sweeping  with  their  arms. 
Their  legs  were  not  hidden  as  most  women's 
are,  but  swathed  in  sacking.  Thorgils  supposed 
them  to  have  been  taken  from  the  Seal  Islands, 
and  felt  sorry  for  them,  but  he  went  through 
the  midst  of  them  with  his  party,  straight  for 
the  house. 


THE  END  OF  THE  THRALLS       147 

They  knocked  at  the  door,  and  having  no 
answer,  tried  it,  and  found  it  to  be  bolted.  All 
the  women  now  came  about  them  with  loud  cries 
and  protestations;  but  Thorgils  had  found  a 
heavy  balk  of  timber  with  which  he  broke  down 
the  door.  Then  they  went  into  the  house,  but 
at  first  saw  nobody  about.  It  was  close  inside 
and  smelt  very  foul.  They  started  to  ransack, 
and  presently  Starkad  called  to  Thorgils  that  he 
had  them.  There  was  laughter  in  his  voice. 
Thorgils  went  to  where  he  was,  and  then  he  too 
saw  them. 

They  were  all  together — eight  of  them — in 
one  great  bed.  He  saw  them  billowing  under 
the  coverings  like  moles  underground.  Then 
Starkad  pulled  back  the  blankets  and  discov- 
ered them  all  huddled  together.  They  did  not 
move. 

Thorgils,  whose  eyes  were  shining  cold,  had 
Earth-house-prey  drawn  in  his  hand,  and  lifted 
it  up.  Whether  he  changed  his  purpose  in  the 
very  act  to  smite,  or  whether  he  had  from  the 
first  meant  to  do  what  he  did,  the  tale  does  not 
tell.  He  brought  the  sword  down  flatways  upon 
the  buttocks  of  one  of  them,  and  they  all  jumped 
up  and  knelt  on  the  bed.    Thorgils  said,  **  Come 


148  THOEGILS 

out  of  that,"  and  one  by  one  they  got  off  the  bed 
and  knelt  to  him  on  the  floor. 

Thorgils  said  to  Col,  **  Tie  them  up."  Snae- 
Coll,  who  was  the  murderer,  took  it  worse  than 
the  rest,  for  he  seemed  to  go  mad.  He  howled 
like  a  dog  and  gibbered  nonsense ;  but  they  had 
a  short  way  with  that,  and  soon  had  him  as 
quiet  as  the  rest  of  them.  They  were  all  tied 
up  and  left,  while  Thorgils  and  Thorstan  went 
over  the  house  and  collected  what  there  was  of 
value.  There  was  money,  a  good  deal  of  stock, 
some  of  his  own  furnishings,  such  as  bed- 
clothes, tools,  and  clothing,  and  some  fine  furs. 
When  all  this  was  stowed  aboard  Thorgils  came 
back  to  the  house,  where  Col  kept  watch  upon 
the  thralls.  He  had  still  his  sword  in  his  hand, 
but  he  did  not  mean  to  use  it. 

He  spoke.  ^*  Snae-Coll  and  you  other  thieves 
who  murder  women,  listen  to  me.  I  shall  not 
kill  you,  because  that  would  be  too  good  a  thing 
for  you.  A  flash  and  one  pang  of  fear,  and  then 
you  are  at  rest.  No,  but  you  shall  live  and  be 
wretched.  Thralls  you  were,  and  thralls '  work 
is  what  you  have  done;  thralls  you  shall  be 
henceforward.  Now  get  up,  and  down  to  the 
water." 


THE  END  OF  THE  THRALLS       149 

They  rose  to  their  feet,  white  and  dazed  with 
fear,  and  he  drove  them  before  him  down  to 
the  water's  edge.  There  one  by  one  they  got 
into  the  boat  and  huddled  together  in  the  bows. 
Then  they  rowed  away  down  the  firth.  He  had 
left  the  women  behind  with  a  sufficiency  of  stock 
to  keep  them  through  the  winter.  They  would 
fare  better  there,  he  thought,  than  in  Eric's 
haven.  It  was  clear  that  they  had  done  all  the 
work  of  the  farm  for  their  masters.  Now  they 
should  do  it  for  themselves  and  their  children. 
So  far  as  appeared  they  did  not  regret  any- 
thing. Some  of  them  waved  farewell,  and  they 
all  stood  watching  the  boat  out  of  sight;  but 
when  they  were  round  the  bend  and  had  another 
view  of  the  homestead,  there  they  all  were  out 
in  the  mead  again.  Thorgils  saw  smoke  com- 
ing from  the  chimney,  too.  ''  They  will  do  well 
enough,''  he  said. 

The  end  of  the  thralls  was  that  he  sold  them 
all  in  the  market  the  day  after  he  had  landed 
them.  Thorstan  said  that  he  had  been  merci- 
ful, but  Thorgils  shook  his  head  over  that. 
''  Nay,"  he  said,  ''  I  had  been  merciful  to  kill 
them  all  outright;  but  it  was  not  a  case  for 


150  THORGILS 

mercy.    You  have  not  seen  what  I  saw  out  in 
the  wilderness." 

Now  he  decided  to  make  ready  for  sailing; 
and  Thorstan  White  said  that  he  should  go 
home  with  him.  Starkad,  who  had  married  a 
wife  and  now  had  a  child,  made  up  his  mind  to 
stop  in  Greenland  for  a  while.  Thorlaf  and 
Col  said  that  they  should  go  home  with  Thor- 
gils. 


CHAPTER   XVIII 

HAEEOWING    OF    THE    SEA 

THE  winter  set  in  early  that  year  and 
caught  Thorgils  at  his  preparations. 
They  had  to  wait  for  the  year  to  turn, 
but  set  out  as  early  as  they  dared — and  too 
early  as  it  turned  out;  for  though  the  ice  was 
broken  up  and  they  had  a  fair  lead,  the  winter 
storms  were  not  over. 

For  two  days  they  had  smooth  water  with 
the  wind  upon  their  quarter,  and  then  they  had 
sight  of  their  own  land.  They  were  in  high 
spirits  and  full  of  hopefulness.  But  the  wind 
died  away  and  they  lay  adrift,  waiting  for  what 
was  to  come.  The  wind  veered  round  to  the 
North  and  gradually  increased  in  force  until  it 
blew  a  gale.  Close-hauled  as  they  were,  they 
could  make  no  way.  So  it  blew  hard  for  twelve 
days,  and  they  drove  before  it,  whither  they 
knew  not.  They  suffered  sorely  from  the  cold ; 
for  there  came  much  snow. 

But  this  was  not  the  worst  of  it.    They  were 

m 


152  THORGILS 

many  days  out  of  their  course,  and  the  child 
Thorfinn  very  sick  with  the  cold ;  but  when  the 
northerly  gale  had  blown  itself  out,  and  they 
had,  with  infinite  labour,  repaired  their  tackling 
and  got  things  ordered  again,  now  it  began  to 
blow  out  of  the  South-west,  and  increased  to 
the  worst  storm  any  of  them  had  ever  seen. 
The  waves  rolling  in  from  the  ocean  were  like 
mountains  of  green  water.  The  main-mast  car- 
ried away,  and  the  ship  filled  dangerously,  and 
must  sink  but  for  incessant  baling.  For  two 
days  they  baled ;  and  then  the  storm  grew  to  a 
height,  and  billow  after  billow  broke  over  them. 
Eight  huge  waves  came  over  them,  and  still  they 
baled  for  mere  life.  Then  came  a  ninth  wave, 
and  that  the  biggest  of  them  all.  It  struck 
Thorgils  full  in  the  back  and  drove  him  from 
the  helm.  Thorfinn  had  been  between  his  knees ; 
but  when  Thorgils  was  seen  again  in  the  volume 
of  that  water,  Thorfinn  was  not  with  him.  His 
father's  grey  face  was  a  pity  to  see — ^but  just 
then  the  backwash  of  the  wave  threw  Thorfinn 
on  board  again.  Thorgils  clasped  him  with  a 
cry  and  held  him  close.  Thorfinn  was  as  brave 
as  could  be.  "  That  was  a  brimmer,  father!  " 
he  said;  and  his  eyes  laughed.    But  Thorgils 


HARROWING  OF  THE  SEA         153 

had  no  laughter  in  him.  *^  Bale  as  you  may,'' 
he  said,  but  he  himself  had  no  more  care  for 
sea  or  land. 

Yet  they  saved  the  ship,  and  by  nightfall 
were  under  the  shelter  of  the  land  again;  but 
that  was  a  night  of  sorrow.  Thorfinn  had  high 
fever,  and  began  to  throw  up  blood.  He  talked 
wildly,  without  sense,  knew  nobody,  and  to- 
wards morning  died  in  his  father's  arms. 

Thorgils  sat  quite  still  in  a  stare,  holding  the 
dead  child.  He  saw  nobody,  and  said  nothing 
at  all.  They  left  him  alone,  thinking  that  the 
best  way,  and  busied  themselves  with  the  ship. 
They  rigged  up  a  mast  with  a  lug-sail  and  made 
the  best  they  could.  All  men  worked  well ;  but 
Thorlaf  seemed  to  take  direction  over  the 
others.  In  thirty  hours'  sailing  they  made  out 
Hiarlaf's  head,  and  rounding  that  dropped 
anchor  in  Arnarbel's  Oyce,  where  the  white 
water  comes  into  the  sea.  There  was  snug  lying 
there,  and  it  was  not  far  from  their  own 
country. 

Thorgils,  since  his  boy's  death,  had  not 
moved  or  spoken,  nor  had  he  eaten  anything. 
He  just  sat  up  stiffly,  staring  with  blank  eyes 
into  the  distance,  with  Thorfinn 's  body  on  his 


154  THORGILS 

knees.  But  his  friends  were  now  mucli  troubled 
about  him.  They  believed  that  sorrow  had 
robbed  him  of  his  wits;  they  expected  that  he 
would  resist  with  frenzy  any  attempt  they 
might  make  to  land  the  dead  child  and  bury 
him ;  and  yet  such  an  attempt  must  be  made. 

There  were  men  on  the  shore  now,  looking 
at  the  ship,  and  a  boat  was  putting  off  with 
people  on  board.  Thorstan  said  that  he  would 
pull  out  to  meet  them.  Then  he  thought  of 
what  might  be  done  to  rouse  Thorgils.  *  *  I  will 
seem  to  dispute  with  those  men  about  the  har- 
bour-dues ;  we  will  have  a  tussle.  It  shall  look 
as  if  we  were  come  to  fighting.  Now  when  you 
see  us  all  struggling  together,  do  you  cry  out  to 
Thorgils,  *  Help,  rescue — Thorstan  is  taken.' 
That  will  move  him.  He  will  come  ashore  in 
one  of  their  boats — and  while  he  is  composing 
the  quarrel,  you  shall  pick  up  the  child  and 
carry  him  to  the  church.  He  will  be  in  a  great 
rage  with  you ;  but  that  will  make  no  matter  so 
that  he  recovers  his  senses."  Thorlaf  agreed 
to  that,  and  Thorstan  rowed  ashore,  meeting  the 
boats  half-way  across  and  turning  them  back 
with  him — or  some  of  them.  After  a  while  they 
on  the  ship  saw  what  seemed  to  be  a  fight  going 


HARROWING  OF  THE  SEA         155 

on.  Thorlaf  ran  to  Thorgils  with  the  alarm, 
and  the  afiQicted  man  awoke.  He  gave  a  mo- 
ment's flash  of  the  eyes  to  the  shore,  then  got  up 
and,  still  carrying  Thorfinn,  went  down  the  side 
into  one  of  the  boats.  He  covered  the  body  with 
a  cloak  just  as  if  it  was  alive. 

They  came  close  to  land,  and  Thorgils  jumped 
into  the  water  and  waded  ashore.  The  same 
moment  Thorlaf  turned  the  boat's  head,  and 
they  rowed  across  the  river  to  the  church.  Be- 
fore Thorgils  could  come  at  them  again  Thor- 
finn was  buried.  Col  and  Thorlaf  did  it  to- 
gether, with  the  priest  of  the  church,  and  they 
stayed  in  the  priest's  house  to  see  how  Thorgils 
would  deal  with  them.  They  knew  that  they 
had  taken  a  great  risk,  and  that  it  might  go  hard 
with  them. 

The  quarrel,  of  course,  which  had  been  no 
quarrel  at  all,  ceased  when  Thorgils  came  into 
it.  Then  he  was  for  going  back  to  the  boat,  and 
it  seemed  as  if  his  fit  had  come  on  him  again.  He 
had  had  neither  food  nor  sleep  for  two  days, 
and  looked  an  old  man.  He  showed  no  pleasure 
in  being  at  home  again,  among  men  who  wished 
him  well;  he  did  not  ask  after  his  daughter 
whom  he  had  left  just  hereabouts  five  years  ago. 


156  THORGILS 

All  his  thoughts  were  centred  in  Thorfinn, 
whom  he  considered  as  alive  and  waiting  for 
him. 

They  told  him  then  what  had  been  done.  For 
a  long  time  he  could  not  understand  them ;  but 
when  he  did  he  grew  terribly  angry  and  vowed 
that  CoPs  life  should  pay  for  it.  Col  had  killed 
Thorfinn,  he  said,  and  Col  should  die.  Nothing 
would  stop  him  from  taking  boat;  so  he  was 
rowed  across  the  river  and  stalked  up  to  the 
churchyard,  Earth-house-prey  in  his  hand.  The 
priest  came  out  to  meet  him.  **  Give  me  the 
slayer  of  my  boy,"  he  said;  and  the  priest  re- 
plied, **  That  cannot  be,  Thorgils.  It  was  God 
who  slew  your  son,  and  He  is  not  at  my  dis- 
pose." ''  It  was  Col  who  killed  him,"  said 
Thorgils;  **  I  know  that  very  well."  *^  It  was 
Col  who  did  for  you  that  which  you  ought  to 
have  done, ' '  said  the  priest.  *  *  Come,  I  will  take 
you  to  your  boy's  grave."  Thorgils,  in  a  stare, 
allowed  himself  to  be  led  by  the  hand.  He  stood 
looking  at  the  grave  quietly;  and  then  they  saw 
that  his  eyes  were  full  of  tears.  They  let  him 
weep  as  he  would,  but  presently  Col  and  Thor- 
laf  came  out  of  .the  house  behind  him  and  stood 
by  his  side,  without  saying  anything.    For  some 


HARROWING  OF  THE  SEA         157 

time  he  was  not  aware  of  them,  but  when  he 
turned  his  eyes  and  saw  them  both  there,  he  had 
no  remembrance  of  the  rage  which  had  brought 
him  to  the  grave,  with  the  intent  of  filling  an- 
other grave.  He  looked  kindly  on  them,  with 
his  eyes  all  wet,  and  put  his  hand  on  CoPs 
shoulder,  and  leaned  hard  on  him.  They  took 
him  away  presently,  and  then  he  ate  and  drank, 
and  afterwards  lay  down  and  slept. 

The  fit  was  off  him,  and  he  resumed  hold  upon 
life,  such  of  it  as  was  left  to  him;  but  it  was 
evident  to  those  who  had  known  him  so  long 
and  seen  him  so  intimately  that  he  was  aged  by 
ten  years  in  the  two  days  since  Thorfinn  died. 
For  one  thing,  he  had  become  more  peremptory, 
more  arbitrary  in  his  dealings  with  men,  and 
much  more  irritable  than  he  had  been  wont  to 
be.  That  showed  itself  as  soon  as  he  was  at 
home. 


CHAPTER   XIX 


TKEADHOLT    AGAIN 


THEY  sailed  away  from  Olvus  soon  after- 
wards, and  came  into  their  own  waters 
about  mid-May,  and  from  the  sea  had  a 
sight  of  Treadholt  among  its  green  meads.  Ey- 
jafell  was  still  deeply  mantled  in  snow,  there 
were  no  leaves  on  the  trees ;  but  the  river  ran 
brimmingly,  and  they  could  see  lambs  in  the 
home-meadows. 

For  all  this  Thorgils  had  a  sombre  regard. 
He  saw,  but  did  not  look.  It  was  Col  who 
pointed  places  out  to  Thorlaf ,  or  Thorlaf  to  Col, 
and  both  of  them  made  the  most  of  their  land 
for  Thorstan  White's  advantage.  They  left 
Thorgils  very  much  to  himself,  and  that  was  all 
he  asked  of  them.  Yet  when  they  came  into 
Cogsound,  and  friends  on  the  quay  hailed  them, 
or  presently,  when  a  crowd  of  them  came  aboard 
— and  Haering  his  brother  one  of  them — ^his 
heart  warmed  to  the  welcome  he  received,  and 
he  spoke  like  himself  again.    There  was  much 

158 


TREADHOLT  AGAIN  159 

to  tell  and  little  of  it  good;  yet  it  was  a  relief 
to  him  to  speak  freely  of  Thorey's  end  and  of 
Gudrun's,  even  to  confess  the  bitterness  of  his 
heart  when,  at  the  very  last,  his  boy  was  taken 
from  him  whom  he  had  been  at  such  desperate 
pains  to  keep  alive.  In  time  he  did  come  to 
speak  of  that,  not  making  much  of  his  own  mis- 
ery— for  that  was  not  his  way ;  telling  rather  of 
the  lad^s  high  heart  and  pretty  ways,  and  leav- 
ing all  the  rest  to  be  understood  by  them  who 
heard  him. 

Haering  gave  good  reports  of  his  husbandry 
at  Treadholt.  **  You  will  find  all  in  order, 
brother,  and  can  take  it  over  from  the  moment 
you  cross  the  threshold."  Thorgils  said  there 
was  no  hurry  about  that,  but  there  would  be  ac- 
counts to  settle,  and  the  matter  of  Thorny 's  mar- 
riage to  be  gone  into.  He  wanted  to  know  more 
about  Bearne  of  the  Pit,  and  seemed  fidgety 
over  the  whole  affair.  As  soon  as  might  be  they 
all  went  over  to  Treadholt,  where  Thorstan 
White  would  stay  through  the  summer  while  he 
was  looking  about  him.  Loft,  now  a  very  old 
man,  came  out  to  meet  them  a  mile  short  of 
Treadholt.  He  wept  when  he  saw  Thorgils 
again,  and  treated  him  as  if  he  were  the  elder 


160  THORGILS 

of  the  two,  being  indeed  almost  childish  himself. 
Thorgils  embraced  him  warmly,  and  walked 
with  him  up  the  road,  old  Loft  taking  his  arm  to 
help  him  along.  Then  came  out  Haering's  wife 
and  three  sons,  fine  lads,  to  join  the  party — 
and  that  was  a  happy  meeting  because  Thor- 
gils loved  children  and  was  at  his  best  with 
them.  After  a  time  Thorlaf  and  Col  went  up  to 
Calf  holt,  to  take  possession  of  that  on  Col's  ac- 
count as  heir  of  his  father  lostan — but  that  was 
not  for  some  days.  There  was  a  great  feast  at 
Treadholt  first,  to  which  all  the  neighbours 
came,  and  among  them  Bearne  of  the  Pit,  and 
Thorny,  the  last  alive  of  Thorgils'  children. 

For  what  reason  is  not  to  be  known,  but  Thor- 
gils took  immediate  dislike  of  Bearne,  who  was 
most  earnest  to  please  his  father-in-law  and 
signally  failed  to  do  it,  perhaps  for  that  very 
reason.  Bearne  was  a  stoutish  man,  with  a 
round,  red  face,  and  rather  small,  anxious  eyes 
which  watered  freely.  Thorgils  judged  him  a 
time-server,  which  perhaps  he  was.  Thorny 
was  a  handsome  girl,  after  the  fashion  of  her 
mother,  slim  and  very  upright,  with  hair  lighter 
than  her  skin.  She  had  not  the  deep-blue  eyes 
of  Thorey,  nor  her  look  of  truth  and  courage — 


TREADHOLT  AGAIN  161 

though  she  had  plenty  of  both — but  she  was  a 
handsome  girl,  a  great  deal  younger  than 
Bearne,  who  had  been  married  before  and  had 
a  daughter  at  home.  Thorny  had  a  child,  whom 
she  brought  with  her,  a  boy  called  Thorolf . 

Haering  was  host,  for  Thorgils  would  take 
over  nothing  yet  awhile,  and,  being  a  munificent 
man,  offered  great  hospitality  on  all  hands. 
The  whole  countryside  came  up  to  Treadholt 
and  sat  there  for  a  week.  Thorgils  was  very 
affable  and  talked  freely  to  those  whom  he 
knew  or  knew  of;  but  to  Bearne,  of  whom  he 
knew  next  to  nothing,  he  was  measured  in  his 
civility,  and  well  on  this  side  of  cordiality.  The 
more  he  held  off  the  more  Bearne  paid  court 
to  him.  He  was  a  foolish  man,  who  did  not 
know  what  he  owed  to  himself;  and  so  it  went 
on  until  one  fine  day  Thorgils  lost  his  temper 
and  said,  **  I  wish  that  you  would  leave  me 
alone.  You  have  married  my  daughter,  and 
that  ought  to  be  enough  for  you.  My  agree- 
ment was  not  to  be  looked  for,  placed  as  I  was ; 
but  it  seems  to  me  that  you  have  got  so  much 
the  best  of  the  bargain  that  a  little  modesty 
would  become  you  very  well."  Bearne  was 
much  dismayed  and  asked  his  wife  what  he  had 


162  THOEGILS 

better  do.  **  It  occurs  to  me,"  he  said,  *^  that 
I  have  been  insulted,  which  is  rather  hard  to 
bear,  and  must  be  more  trying  to  you  than  to 
me,  I  should  think.  I  think  your  father  has  left 
his  temper  as  well  as  his  family  in  Greenland. ' ' 
Then  he  wiped  his  eyes  and  blinked  at  Thorny. 
She  said,  **  "Wliy  can't  you  leave  my  father 
alone?  He  knows  nothing  of  you,  and  you 
might  have  seen  that  he  makes  friendships 
slowly.  There  is  something  against  you  I  know. 
It  may  be  that  your  eyes  are  always  on  the 
drip.''  Bearne  said  that  it  was  hard  that  a 
man's  infirmities  should  be  cast  up  against  him, 
but  Thorny  said,  **  Well,  then  be  careful  not  to 
cast  theirs  up  against  other  men."  But  Bearne 
was  unhappy  when  he  was  in  the  company  of 
people  who  did  not  love  him,  and  took  his  wife 
away  as  soon  as  he  could. 

After  he  had  gone  Thorgils  spoke  his  mind 
to  Haering.  *^  One  thing  displeases  me, 
brother,  in  your  ruling  of  my  business,  and  that 
is  your  handing  Thorny  over  to  that  weeper. 
He  overwept  your  foresight,  and  sluiced  your 
pockets  of  more  than  you  should  have  kept  there 
for  his  washings.  My  meaning  is  that  you  en- 
dowed her  for  more  than  the  man  was  worth. 


TREADHOLT  AGAIN  163 

I  think  that  he  overreached  you,  and  owe  him 
a  grudge  for  that. ' '  Haering  justified  himself, 
but  said  that  he  would  readily  pay  back  what- 
ever Thorgils  thought  laid  out  in  excess  of  rea- 
son. Thorgils  would  not  hear  of  it.  **  It  is  not 
your  money  that  I  am  after,  but  my  own,''  he 
said;  **  but  now  we  will  leave  it.  I  shall  have 
time  enough  to  reach  an  understanding  with  the 
bleary  one.  Let  him  sop  his  eyes  with  my  nap- 
kins while  he  can." 

Thorstan  White,  who  was  a  great  trader,  did 
not  stay  out  the  summer  at  Treadholt,  but  was 
there  just  long  enough  to  fit  out  a  ship.  He  said 
he  should  go  to  Norway  and  might  be  back  in 
the  following  summer.  Thorgils  sped  him  out- 
ward with  great  good  will,  and  they  parted  firm 
friends.  After  that  he  remained  quietly  at 
home  throughout  the  winter,  revolving  many 
things  in  his  mind.  He  seemed  to  be  in  the 
trough  between  manhood  and  old  age ;  but  as  it 
turned  out  he  was  rather  renewing  his  strength. 
He  was  not  yet  fifty  years  old. 

In  the  spring  the  Thing  was  held  at  Arness, 
and  all  the  chief  men  of  the  country  rode  to  it. 
It  was  a  long  journey  from  Treadholt,  seeing 
Arness  lies  across  Rang-river  Vales,  on  Thurso 


164  THORGILS 

Water;  but  nevertheless  Thorgils  went,  and  a 
goodly  company  with  him. 

He  reached  the  place  late,  and  went  at  once 
to  the  booth  which  had  been  prepared  for  him. 
They  told  him  that  his  son-in-law  and  Thorny 
were  there,  and  he  heard  it  grimly.  **  I  wish 
them  joy  of  it,*'  was  all  he  said;  nor  would  he 
go  to  visit  them,  nor  did  they  venture  to  come 
over  to  him.  Thorny  was  as  sharp  as  all  women 
are  who  know  things  otherwise  than  by  the  ears 
or  eyes.  She  understood  that  there  was  sore- 
ness in  her  father's  mind,  not  caused  by  that  in 
her  husband's  eyes.  Bearne  was  very  uneasy, 
and  caught  sight  of  Thorgils  more  than  once  at 
the  assemblies.  He  waited  upon  him  patiently 
with  his  eyes,  but  Thorgils  made  as  though  he 
was  unconscious  of  him.  However — he  was  not 
at  all  unconscious. 

One  morning,  after  he  had  been  there  nearly 
a  week,  he  took  his  sword  in  his  hand,  and  went 
directly  to  Bearne 's  booth.  Thorny  saw  him 
coming,  and  a  bright  light  came  into  her  eyes. 
**  My  father  is  coming  here,"  she  said  to  her 
husband.  **  Up  now  and  go  to  meet  him,  and 
behave  yourself  like  a  man.  Wipe  your  eyes 
first,  for  the  love  of  goodness.    I  can  see  that 


TREADHOLT  AGAIN  165 

his  anger  has  come  to  a  head.  All  now  depends 
upon  you."  Bearne  was  rather  flustered,  but 
took  hold  of  himself  and  went  to  the  booth  door. 
He  saw  Thorgils  coming  on  like  a  strong  wind ; 
he  went  out  bare-headed  and  weaponless  to 
meet  him.  ^*  Hail,  kinsman,"  he  said;  **  this  is 
what  I  have  been  hoping  for.  Now  I  ask  you  to 
take  up  your  lodging  with  us  for  as  long  as  may 
please  you.  I  only  wish  to  serve  you,  and  all 
I  have  is  at  your  disposition  if  you  will  use  it." 
Thorgils  stopped  short  and  listened  to  him. 
Bearne  had  his  hand  out.  His  anger  fell  off 
him  like  a  cloak.  *^  You  speak  well,"  he  said, 
**  and  I  accept  your  offer.  The  fact  is  that  I 
was  coming  in  a  great  rage,  and  don't  know 
what  might  have  happened."  Bearne  said  that 
he  was  very  sorry  to  have  displeased  him,  and 
that  he  hoped  he  would  stay  with  them  at  the 
Pit.  **  When  you  are  there,"  he  said,  *'  you 
shall  look  over  all  that  I  have,  and  what  you 
please  to  take  away  with  you,  that  you  shall 
have  and  welcome."  Thorgils  laughed  quietly 
and  patted  Bearne  on  the  shoulder.  Then  they 
went  into  the  booth  and  he  gave  Thorny  a  kiss, 
and  seemed  glad  to  be  with  her. 
When  the  Thing  was  over  Thorgils  rode  with 


166  THORGILS 

Bearne  and  Thorny  to  Pit,  which  was  the  name 
of  Bearne 's  homestead.  He  saw  everything 
they  had  and  approved  of  it.  Thorny  told  him 
that  it  was  all  his  if  he  chose  to  take  it :  **  All 
came  from  you,  and  shall  go  back  again  at  your 
will.''  Thorgils,  without  moving  a  muscle,  said 
that  he  would  look  over  the  stock  and  take  what 
seemed  fair ;  and  when  he  went  through  it  all 
with  Bearne  he  did  set  aside  twenty  cows  and  a 
six-score  ewes  as  his  when  he  called  for  them. 
To  this  Bearne  assented,  and  presently  Thor- 
gils rode  home  to  Treadholt.  In  due  time  he 
sent  men  over  to  Pit  to  get  in  the  stock  he  had 
marked.  It  came  in,  and  with  it  came  Thorny 
herself  with  a  child  at  the  breast.  ''  What  is 
this,  my  child?  "  ''  Father,"  she  said,  ''  it 
seems  to  me  that  you  are  set  against  my  hus- 
band, and  regret  that  I  was  given  to  him  at  all. 
Now,  if  you  will  have  me,  I  will  separate  from 
him  and  stay  here  with  you ;  and  you  can  have 
all  my  dowry  back  again  whenever  you  wish. 
So  says  Bearne  himself.'' 

Thorgils  was  much  affected  by  her  meekness, 
and  gave  her  his  blessing.  ' '  A  blessing  on  you, 
and  on  Bearne  as  well,"  he  said.  *'  You  are 
good  souls,  and  I  have  tried  you  over  hard.    I 


TREADHOLT  AGAIN  167 

own  that  I  thought  he  had  overreached  them 
that  had  you  in  charge ;  but  that  doubt  of  mine 
soon  left  me.  He  met  me  at  Arness  like  a  man, 
and  when  I  went  to  Pit  I  only  acted  so  to  try 
him.  Now  you  shall  take  all  this  back  home 
with  you,  and  be  sure  that  I  shall  never  part 
you  two.  Tell  Bearne  that  he  and  I  shall  be 
good  friends  after  this ;  for  I  never  forget  the 
goodness  in  a  man,  whatever  I  may  do  with  his 
badness.  *' 

So  that  trouble  was  all  smoothed  over,  and 
Thorgils  lived  at  ease,  but  very  lonely. 


CHAPTER    XX 


HE  bore  his  loneliness  as  long  as  lie  could, 
but  found  himself  getting  older ;  and  the 
older  he  grew  the  less  he  liked  being 
alone.  What  he  remembered  chiefly  about 
Thorey  now  was  her  presence  about  the  house, 
how  good  she  was  to  look  at,  how  pleasant  the 
sound  of  her  voice.  A  man,  he  thought,  lost  the 
savour  of  the  good  things  of  this  life  by  having 
them  unseasoned  by  a  woman's  grace  on  them. 
At  one  time  he  thought  of  taking  Thorny  at  her 
word  and  having  her  and  Bearne  to  live  with 
him.  But  he  gave  that  up  very  soon.  He  was 
fond  of  Thorny,  and  fond  of  Bearne  too,  a  faith- 
ful man;  but  he  knew  himself.  Small  things 
vexed  him,  and  to  see  a  man  always  wiping  his 
eyes  would  have  led  to  no  good.  *  *  I  should  try 
to  mend  his  sore  eyes,  and  fail,  and  hate  them 
worse  than  before."  Then  he  thought  of  marry- 
ing again,  and  the  more  he  thought  of  it  the 

168 


HELGA,  THORORD^S  DAUGHTER   169 

more  he  liked  the  thought.  He  would  be  very- 
good  to  her ;  he  knew  that.  She  would  be  like  a 
daughter  to  him — and  yet  by  no  means  a 
daughter.  And  there  would  be  children,  with- 
out which  a  woman  was  nought,  and  a  house 
less  than  nought.  Yes,  he  would  get  him  a  wife. 
It  was  not  at  all  too  late. 

He  went  over  to  Pit  and  talked  to  Bearne 
about  it.  **  Bearne,''  he  said,  **  you  have  found 
yourself  a  good  wife.  Now  find  one  for  me." 
Bearne  gazed  out  of  his  watery  eyes  for  a  little 
while,  and  then  told  him  that  the  girl  was  found. 
''  And  who  is  she?  "  ''  She  is  Helga,  Thorord's 
daughter,"  said  Bearne,  '*  a  girl  of  a  thousand. 
A  fat  girl  and  very  good-tempered."  Thorgils 
said  that  she  sounded  promising.  **  You  shall 
see  her,"  Bearne  said.  **  We  will  go  to  Shale  in 
the  morning.  Thorord  lives  near  Shale.  He  is 
priest  of  Olvus,  and  is  a  relative  of  mine  by  the 
mother's  side.  The  trouble  will  be,  not  with 
Thorord,  who  is  a  reasonable  man,  but  rather 
with  Shafto,  the  girl's  brother." 

''  And  what  is  the  matter  with  Shafto?  " 
Bearne  looked  serious.    **  He  is  leagued  with 
Asgrim  Ellida-Grimsson,  and  Asgrim  rather 
favours  the  girl  himself. ' ' 


170  THORGILS 

*'  He  is  always  crossing  my  road,"  said  Thor- 
gils,  **  or  he  used  to  be.  But  I  don't  doubt 
I  can  deal  with  Shafto.  How  old  is  your 
Helga?  '' 

^'  She  will  be  seventeen,  I  daresay,''  says 
Bearne. 

**  Well,  we  will  see  her,"  Thorgils  said. 
*^  There  will  be  no  harm  done.  And  she  may  be 
too  fat." 

*  *  Not  a  bit  of  it, ' '  said  Bearne.  ' '  They  can 't 
be  that." 

Whether  Bearne,  in  his  anxiety  to  stand  well 
with  Thorgils,  busied  himself  in  the  affair  be- 
forehand or  not,  he  and  Thorgils  were  received 
at  Shale  with  much  more  interest  than  a  simple 
visit  would  have  warranted.  Thorord  was  a 
plain  and  bluff  sort  of  man,  but  his  son  Shafto 
had  a  scowling  brow  which  was  freely  at  work 
just  now.  They  saw  Helga  before  supper,  but 
not  to  speak  to,  as  she  was  busy.  She  was 
plump  rather  than  fat,  and  had  a  pretty,  fresh- 
coloured  face,  fair  hair,  and  light-blue  eyes. 
The  excitement  of  the  moment — visitors  with  all 
sorts  of  implication  in  their  coming — ^was  very 
becoming  to  her.  Thorgils  in  his  quiet  way 
watched  her  and  knew  all  about  it.    He  thought 


HELGA,  THORORD'S  DAUGHTER   171 

to  himself,  If  a  girl  could  always  contrive  to  be 
on  the  edge  of  an  asking  in  marriage,  how  her 
beauty  would  be  enhanced! 

After  supper  was  over — at  which  she  had 
served  the  guests  and  her  father — she  came  and 
sat  beside  Thorord  and  listened  to  the  talk.  It 
should  have  interested  her,  for  Thorgils  was 
relating  his  adventures  in  the  wilderness ;  but  it 
did  not.  She  was  judging  the  speaker  all  the 
while,  this  sad-faced,  thin  and  very  tall  man 
whom  she  guessed  to  be  as  old  as  her  father. 
All  her  pretty  fluster  died  away;  she  didn't 
want  to  marry  him  at  all.  Her  other  suitor, 
whom  she  had  never  seen,  Asgrim  Ellida-Grims- 
son,  must  be  the  better  match.  Everybody  had 
something  to  say  of  his  great  w^ay  of  life,  and 
she  understood  too  that  he  wore  splendid 
clothes,  and  that  his  horse  had  fine  trappings. 
He  was  a  nobleman,  and  looked  it,  or  so  they 
said.  This  man  of  the  quiet  voice  might  be 
noble  also,  but  there  was  no  sign  of  it  about  him. 
He  was  grey,  very  thin ;  his  doublet  was  shabby, 
threadbare  in  places.  He  talked  to  the  company 
at  large,  so  far  as  she  could  see,  never  looked  at 
her  at  all.  She  could  never  have  guessed  at  the 
depths  of  him  even  if  she  had  wished  to  guess  at 


172  THOEGILS 

it— which  she  did  not.  By-and-by  she  grew  very 
depressing,  and  slipping  out  of  her  father's  arm 
left  the  men  to  themselves,  and  went  rather  un- 
happily to  bed.  Shafto  found  her  pouting  and 
red-eyed  next  day  and  did  his  best  for  his 
friend  Asgrim;  but  in  the  meantime  Thorgils 
had  asked  for  her,  and  her  father  was  inclined 
towards  him  on  all  sorts  of  grounds. 

Thorgils  rode  away  home  thinking  much  of 
Helga.  **  Before  I  know  it  I  shall  be  in  love 
with  that  good-temperd,  comfortable  girl,''  he 
told  Bearne.  *'  I  don't  believe  that  I  shall  ever 
love  a  woman  again  as  I  loved  Thorey,  and  I 
don't  believe  that  I  shall  ever  again  meet  with 
such  a  woman  as  she  was.  Your  Thorny  comes 
near  her,  but  not  to  reach  the  edge  of  her 
shadow.  Yet  this  girl  pleases  me,  and  I  hope 
that  you  will  settle  the  business  for  me, 
Bearne." 

Bearne  said,  *'  Leave  it  for  a  little.  There's 
much  to  be  done.  Young  Shafto  will  be  a  great 
obstacle.  I  can  see  he  don't  care  about  it,  and 
that  he  means  to  get  the  girl  on  his  side.  We 
will  talk  it  all  over  at  the  Thing,  and  it  may  be 
useful  to  make  Shafto  more  aware  of  you  than 
he  is  just  now."    Thorgils  smiled  and  rather 


HELGA,  THOEORD'S  DAUGHTER      173 

stretched  his  smile.  *  *  I  am  thinking  that  I  can 
deal  with  Shafto,''  he  said. 

Nothing  more  was  attempted  until  the  Thing 
at  midsummer,  and  then  Thorgils  spoke  to 
Thorord  again,  and  Thorord  seemed  to  favour 
him  strongly.  Shafto  kept  out  of  the  way,  and 
bestowed  himself  in  Asgrim's  booth.  When 
Thorgils  had  come  to  an  understanding  with 
Thorord,  as  he  thought,  he  now  saw  Asgrim  and 
Shafto  always  in  the  booth  where  Thorord 
lodged,  and  guessed  what  was  going  on.  Next 
time  he  mentioned  his  business  to  Thorord,  the 
man  had  cooled  oif.  Thorgils  became  angry, 
and  said  that  he  would  wring  Shafto 's  neck 
for  him. 

A  ship  came  in  to  Einar's  haven  that  sum- 
mer. Bearne  of  the  Pit  told  Thorgils  about  it. 
He  had  had  the  news  from  Shale,  and  said  that 
Shafto  was  going  over  to  see  what  was  to  be 
seen.  Thorgils  said,  ^*  Right.  He  shall  see  me, 
at  any  rate. ' '  He  went  to  the  haven  with  Col  and 
three  other  men,  crossed  the  ferry  and  stood 
on  the  other  side  waiting.  By-and-by  Shafto 
came  riding  down  to  the  ferry  with  some  men 
with  him.  He  saw  the  horses  feeding  on  the 
other  side,  and  that  they  had  saddles  on  them. 


174  THORGILS 

'*  Whose  horses!  ''  He  was  told,  Thorgils'  of 
Treadholt.  *^  Oh/'  said  Shafto ;  *^  and  where  is 
Thorgils  of  Treadholt  himself!  ''  '^  He  is 
thereabouts  in  the  brushwood,"  he  was  told. 
**  I  think  he  waits  for  an  enemy.  It  looks  like 
that."  Shafto  turned  to  his  men  and  told  them 
that  they  had  better  get  back  home.  **  I  have 
been  talking  to  the  ferryman,  and  hear  that  the 
goods  are  going  very  dear  just  now.  Later  on 
the  prices  will  be  better,  but  if  we  go  over  now 
they  will  be  sure  to  keep  them  up,  thinking  we 
are  eager."  They  went  home  then,  but  every- 
body had  seen  the  horses  across  the  river,  and 
knew  whose  they  were,  and  all  about  it. 

Thorord  said  that  he  had  known  how  it  would 
be.  **  You  and  your  handsome  friend  Asgrim 
will  get  me  into  trouble  with  that  Viking,"  he 
told  Shafto.  **  Do  you  think  we  can  go  on  like 
this,  not  daring  to  cross  our  own  river!  He 
shall  have  Helga  as  soon  as  he  pleases  for  me.  I 
seem  to  know  the  man.  He  is  slow  to  rouse,  but 
not  to  be  turned  from  his  purpose  by  anything 
you  can  do.  Now  Asgrim 's  not  that  kind. 
You  can  pay  Asgrim  for  an  affront  with  a  good 
present,  and  he  will  think  no  more  about  it.  But 
Thorgils  would  take  nothing  but  the  one  thing." 


HELGA,  THORORD'S  DAUGHTER      175 

After  that  he  sent  word  to  Thorgils  that  the 
betrothal  should  be  when  he  pleased,  and  the 
wedding  at  Shale  before  the  winter;  and  so  it 
was  done.  Helga  was  in  very  low  spirits  about 
it,  and  as  well  as  that  dreadfully  frightened  of 
Thorgils.    It  was  not  a  happy  beginning. 

When  they  came  home  to  Treadholt  there  was 
a  feast,  and  everybody  paid  court  to  the  bride, 
except,  it  seemed,  the  bridegroom.  He  was  in 
one  of  his  silent  moods,  and  had  very  little  to 
say.  Helga  was  happy  enough  while  the  guests 
were  there;  but  when  she  was  alone  with  her 
husband  she  did  not  seem  able  to  say  a  word  to 
him.  However,  she  was  his  wife  now,  and  cer- 
tainly he  was  kind  to  her;  but  it  hadn't  turned 
out  as  he  expected.  He  thought  that  she  would 
have  been  as  happy  and  lighthearted  bustling 
about  Treadholt  as  he  had  seen  her  at  Shale. 
Nothing  of  the  kind!  He  was  disappointed, 
and  showed  that  he  was.  That  made  her 
worse. 

It  went  on  very  badly  all  through  the  sum- 
mer, and  towards  the  winter,  but  before  it  had 
begun  to  snow  Helga  thought  that  she  could 
bear  herself  no  longer.  So  one  day,  when  Thor- 
gils was  out  on  the  fells  rounding  up  sheep,  she 


176  THORGILS 

told  one  of  the  servants  that  she  was  going 
over  to  Shale,  and  that  he  must  saddle  two 
horses,  as  she  would  want  him  to  come  with  her. 
She  rode  accompanied  as  far  as  the  house,  and 
being  come  to  the  garth  gate,  Helga  got  down, 
and  told  the  man  to  return  with  both  the  horses, 
as  she  was  going  to  stay  there.  And  so  she  did, 
though  Thorord  blamed  her  and  said  that  she 
must  take  the  consequences,  whatever  they  were. 
Shafto  said  she  had  done  right ;  and  Helga  her- 
self felt  sure  that  Thorgils  would  never  claim 
her  again.  **  He  looks  on  me  as  one  of  the  serv- 
ant-maids," she  said,  **  and  doesn^t  know  one 
of  us  from  the  other.''  Thorord  told  her  that 
that  was  nonsense.  **  Thorgils  is  not  the  man 
to  take  one  of  his  servant-maids  in  his  arms.'* 
Helga,  tossing  her  head,  said  that  it  might  come 
to  that.  **  He  can  do  very  well  without  me 
there,  you  will  see." 

She  was  at  home  for  several  days  without  any 
message  from  Treadholt,  and  then  there  came 
an  evening  when  they  were  sitting  at  board,  and 
heard  a  horse  outside  in  the  garth;  then  pres- 
ently a  single  thump  at  the  door.  It  was  opened 
by  one  of  the  hinds,  and  Thorgils  came  into  the 
hall. 


HELGA,  THORORD'S  DAUGHTER      177 

He  looked  a  great  warrior,  having  a  helm  on 
his  head,  and  his  sword  Earth-house-prey  in  his 
hand.  He  took  no  notice  of  anybody  as  he 
walked  up  the  hall ;  neither  saluted  Thorord  nor 
any  one  else.  He  walked  by  them  all  to  where 
Helga  was  sitting  and  took  her  by  the  wrist. 
She  rose  as  he  did  it,  and  made  no  resistance 
to  him.  He  led  her  out  of  the  house  and  into 
the  yard  where  his  horse  was  standing,  lifted 
her  quite  easily  and  put  her  in  the  saddle ;  then 
mounted  himself  behind  her  and  rode  away. 
There  had  been  that  about  him  which  had  held 
every  one  still  in  his  place  to  see  what  he  was 
going  to  do ;  but  when  he  was  sure,  Shaf to,  very 
red  in  the  face,  got  up  and  asked  his  father  that 
some  of  them  might  go  after  him.  Thorord, 
angry,  scoffed  at  him.  **  A  pretty  sight  you 
would  be,  following  a  man  like  him,  keeping 
your  distance,  and  not  daring  to  diminish  it  by 
half  a  yard.  That  is  how  finches  follow  a  kite,  I 
think.  Keep  out  of  the  man's  way,  and  deem 
yourself  lucky  that  he  don't  send  for  you  to 
know  what  you  want  to  do,  meddling  with  his 
affairs.  And  what  is  it  that  you  suppose  your- 
self to  be  doing,  I  should  like  to  know?  He 
came  after  his  own,  and  he  took  it  away  with 


178  THORGILS 

him.  No  man  of  this  house  shall  go  after  him — 
I'll  see  to  that.'' 

Thorgils  said  nothing  to  Helga  all  the  way 
home,  but  when  he  had  her  indoors  he  surprised 
her  very  much.  She  was  in  a  great  fright  and 
thought  she  was  going  to  be  beaten ;  but  instead 
of  that  he  took  her  in  his  arms  and  kissed  her 
well.  Then  she  began  to  cry,  and  said  that  she 
was  sorry.  *^  My  dear,"  he  said,  ^^  it  is  I  who 
am  sorry.  Until  I  had  lost  you  I  didn't  know 
how  much  I  wanted  you.  Now  we  understand 
each  other,  and  things  will  go  better  between 
us."  She  slept  in  his  arms,  and  in  the  morn- 
ing found  herself  happy.  *  *  "Why  am  I  so  happy 
to-day?  "  She  asked  Thorgils  that.  He  pinched 
her  cheek.  *^  Go  and  ask  the  hens,  my  dear," 
he  said.  **  They  will  tell  you."  But  she 
wouldn't  go. 

The  end  of  all  this  was  that  next  year  Helga 
had  a  son.  They  called  him  Grim,  and  he  was 
the  first  of  many.  Yet  Thorgils  was  sixty  when 
Grim  was  bom. 


CHAPTEE   XXI 

BECKONINGS   WITH   ASGRIM 

NOW,  towards  the  end  of  his  life,  when  a 
man  might  look  for  peace  and  quietness, 
Thorgils  began  to  find  himself  rubbing 
elbows  with  Asgrim  Ellida-Grimsson.  There 
is  nothing  surprising  in  that,  since  they  were 
the  two  men  of  most  consideration  in  the  coun- 
try, and  Asgrim,  at  least,  very  much  aware  of  it. 
There  was  this  marked  difference  between  them, 
that  Thorgils  was  a  great  man  and  not  aware 
how  great  he  was,  and  Asgrim  a  great  man  who 
thought  himself  greater  than  he  was.  Asgrim 
made  a  show  of  his  greatness ;  he  was  fond  of 
ornament  and  trappings ;  he  was  pleased  to  ride 
about  attended  by  many ;  he  held  himself  to  be 
above  the  law.  He  was  a  portly  high-coloured 
man  of  much  greater  presence  than  Thorgils, 
who  grew  leaner  as  he  grew  older.  On  his  broad 
back  a  scarlet  cloak  looked  very  magnificent. 
He  was  fond  of  wearing  scarlet,  and  always  had 
his  clothes  of  the  best  Italian  cloth  that  you 

179 


180  THOEGILS 

could  buy.  Fur  was  another  weakness  of  his; 
broad  trimmings  of  fur  were  on  all  his  doublets, 
and  in  the  winter  he  had  a  sable  cloak,  very  fine 
indeed.  Not  only  was  he  a  landed  man,  but  a 
great  trader  also,  with  ships  for  Norway,  Ire- 
land, Eussia,  and  Germany.  It  was  upon  a 
matter  of  ships  that  he  and  Thorgils  began  to 
quarrel. 

There  was  a  good  haven  which  ran  into  land 
belonging  to  Thorgils  and  friends  of  his.  It  was 
handy  for  Asgrim  and  often  used  by  his  ves- 
sels. But  he  would  never  pay  the  toll,  nor  allow 
his  men  to  pay  any.  This  had  gone  on  for  many 
years,  and  at  last  it  became  notorious,  and 
Thorgils'  collector  complained  of  it.  Thorgils 
said  that  he  would  speak  to  Asgrim  when  he 
came  across  him ;  and  so  he  did. 

He  was  riding  down  to  the  sea  one  day  upon 
an  old  flea-bitten  horse  almost  as  lean  as  him- 
self, alone,  in  his  shabby  leather  jacket,  with  his 
cloak  twisted  about  him — for  it  was  cold 
weather — when  he  met  with  a  company  riding 
up;  six  or  eight  men  talking  and  laughing  to- 
gether, and  Asgrim  in  front  of  them  in  his  fa- 
mous sables,  riding  alone  on  a  great  white  stal- 
lion.   Thorgils,  looking  mean  and  withered  in 


EECKONINGS  WITH  ASGRIM      181 

the  wind,  reined  up  and  nodded  his  head  side- 
ways to  Asgrim.  The  great  man  stared,  and 
puffed  out  his  cheeks ;  but  he  also  reined  up. 

**  I  am  glad  to  meet  with  you,"  says  Thor- 
gils.  **  There  is  a  little  matter  of  harbour-dues 
to  square  between  us." 

*' Ho,  indeed,"  says  Asgrim.  **  How  may 
that  be?  "  ''  Why,  it  is  like  this,"  says  Thor- 
gils.  ^*  Your  shipmen  use  the  haven  out  yon- 
der, and  come  and  go  as  they  please ;  but  they 
don't  pay  the  toll.  When  it  is  asked  for  they 
speak  of  you." 

''  They  do  well,"  says  Asgrim;  ''  they  do 
well." 

**  They  do,  I  suppose,  as  they  are  told,"  says 
Thorgils;  **  but  my  people  don't  grow  fat  on 
such  words  as  they  use.  Now  I  ask  you  to  re- 
member that  the  land  belongs  to  me  and  my 
friends,  and  that  everybody  pays  the  tolls  but 
you."  He  fixed  Asgrim  with  a  shrewd  but 
friendly  eye,  and  made  him  feel  cross. 

He  looked  about,  but  Thorgils'  eye  did  not 
leave  him ;  he  grew  rather  red  and  felt  his  anger 
rising.    *'  I  can't  speak  about  it  now,"  he  said. 

''  Why  not,"  said  Thorgils,  ''  if  I  can  speak 
about  it?  "  Then  Asgrim  was  angry. 


182  THORGILS 

'^  The  sea  is  open  to  all  ships/ ^  he  said,  **  to 
mine  as  well  as  other  people's.  It  is  not  my 
custom  to  be  troubled  with  petty  customs,  a 
penny  here,  or  a  penny  there.  These  are  for 
fishermen  and  little  men.  You  must  not  claim 
your  pennies  of  me." 

**  I  shan't  claim  them  any  more,"  said  Thor- 
gils,  and  rode  on.  Asgrim  thought  that  he  had 
got  the  better  of  him,  and  so  did  his  respectful 
following.  There  was  much  laughter  among 
them  as  they  went  their  way — and  Thorgils 
heard  it. 

Nothing  more  was  said  or  done  until  the 
spring,  when  Asgrim  gave  out  word  that  he 
was  launching  a  ship  down  at  the  haven.  The 
news  went  about  the  country  and  a  number  of 
people  came  out  to  see  the  sight.  It  was  low 
water,  and  Asgrim  was  out  on  the  sands  with  a 
deal  of  company,  meaning  to  warp  the  ship  out 
of  the  dock  into  the  river.  He  looked  very  noble 
in  his  scarlet,  edged  with  black  fur,  and  though 
it  was  a  foul  shore,  full  of  pools  and  pits  of 
water,  he  did  not  disdain  to  take  command  of 
the  rope,  nor  to  haul  at  it  himself.  A  number  of 
hands,  women  as  well  as  men,  laid  hold ;  behind 


RECKONINGS  WITH  ASGRIM      183 

them  all  was  Asgrim — and  behind  him  was  a 
deep  pool  of  water. 

Asgrim  gave  the  word,  and  they  all  began 
to  haul.  Down  the  shore  came  a  rider  on  a  thin 
horse,  a  tall  man  with  a  long-handled  axe  in  his 
hand.  He  stayed  looking  at  the  company  for  a 
while.  The  rope  was  taut,  all  the  haulers,  men, 
women,  and  Asgrim,  were  leaning  backwards, 
straining  for  their  lives.  The  single  rider 
moved  forward,  and  stood  up  against  the  rope. 
The  axe  flashed  in  the  air  and  came  down  sharp 
—the  rope  parted,  and  all  the  people  fell  back- 
wards, Asgrim  souse  into  the  pool,  women  on 
top  of  him,  men  on  their  backs  in  the  wet  sand. 
There  went  up  a  wave  of  laughter  from  the 
lookers-on,  all  the  way  from  the  sands  to  the 
dry  land;  but  Thorgils  sat  motionless  on  his 
horse  and  did  not  laugh  at  all. 

For  some  time  nothing  could  be  seen  of  As- 
grim but  his  feet  in  commotion.  Then  his  red 
back  could  be  seen  wallowing  in  the  water,  and 
finally  he  dragged  himself  out,  and  men  began 
to  fish  for  their  wives  and  mothers.  Asgrim 
was  too  full  of  water  and  too  empty  of  breath 
to  do  more  than  splutter  and  wheeze— but  after 
a  while  he  remembered  his  dignity  and  stared 


184  THORGILS 

about  to  see  who  was  laughing  at  him.  He  saw 
that  everybody  was,  or  had  just  been  laughing. 
Even  his  son  Thorhall,  who  stood  close  to  him, 
was  helpless  with  mirth.  '^  Don't  be  such  a 
fool,"  Asgrim  said,  but  Thorhall  could  only 
wag  his  head  and  cling  to  his  own  knees. 

**  Who  did  this  villainy?  ''  Asgrim  cried  out, 
and  Thorhall,  rocking  about,  holding  his  knees, 
wagged  his  head  without  speaking.  Asgrim 
flung  himself  round  and  caught  a  young  man  by 
the  ear.  '*  Tell  me  who  did  that,  you,"  he  said, 
**  or  you  shall  repent  it."  The  young  man 
pointed  to  Thorgils,  who  still  sat  his  horse 
where  he  had  been  when  he  cut  the  rope.  As- 
grim stared.  '*  Who  is  that  man?  Where 
does  he  come  from!  "  But  he  knew  who  it 
was. 

There  was  nothing  to  be  done.  Everybody 
was  laughing,  and  the  more  angry  he  grew  the 
more  they  laughed.  He  had  only  to  turn  to  a 
man  to  make  him  twist  about  in  an  agony  of 
laughing.  Men  implored  him  not  to  look  at 
them  lest  they  might  rupture  themselves  and 
perhaps  die.  The  only  two  people  not  laughing 
upon  that  shore  were  Asgrim  and  Thorgils. 
From  the  ship  itself,  far  out  in  the  dock,  came 


RECKONINGS  WITH  ASGRIM      185 

the  sound  of  men  laughing  and  slapping  each 
other  on  the  back. 

Asgrim  gave  it  up,  and  went  away  without  a 
word  to  Thorgils.  But  one  of  the  men  on  the 
shore  in  the  space  between  the  spasms  of  his 
laughter  was  able  to  ask,  **  Why  did  you  do  it? 
Oh,  why  did  you  do  iti  *'  and  Thorgils  said, 
** Ship's  toll,*'  before  he  turned  his  horse  and 
rode  thoughtfully  home. 

In  the  evening  when  people  had  somewhat 
recovered  themselves  Asgrim  told  Thorhall  his 
son  that  he  could  not  overlook  such  an  insult. 
Thorhall  struggled  with  himself,  and  managed 
to  say  that  he  thought  his  father  had  better  go 
abroad.  **  You  will  find,''  he  said,  '^  that  every- 
thing you  may  do  will  make  people  laugh  again. 
I  suppose  you  don't  know  what  you  looked  like ; 
but  if  you  will  excuse  me  I  won't  attempt  to  tell 
you,  because  it  will  make  me  ill.  Nevertheless, 
as  I  said,  my  advice  is  that  you  should  go  abroad 
for  a  while." 

Asgrim  said  that  he  should  do  nothing  of  the 
kind.  He  was  exceedingly  angry ;  but  the  worst 
of  it  was  that  he  was  compelled  to  avoid  Thor- 
gils. Whenever  he  came  across  him  the  people 
with  him  were  reminded  of  the  affair  of   the 


186  THORGILS 

launch  and  looked  at  each  other,  and  then 
quickly  looked  away. 

It  was  long  before  the  business  of  the  launch 
was  forgotten;  but  Asgrim  remembered  it 
longer  than  anybody  else,  and  was  careful  not 
to  come  in  Thorgils '  way ;  and  when  it  happened 
later  on  that  Thorhall  wanted  to  marry  a  daugh- 
ter of  Bearne's  and  Thorny 's,  and  asked  his 
father  to  ask  for  her,  Asgrim  made  it  a  point 
of  the  bargain  that  Thorgils  should  not  be  asked 
to  the  wedding. 

Bearne  rubbed  his  chin.  '*  As  to  that,''  he 
said,  **  things  are  so  here  that  Thorgils  will  be 
welcome  whenever  he  comes,  and  nothing  will 
be  done  to  keep  him  out  of  the  house."  Asgrim 
had  known  that  before,  but  it  made  him  impa- 
tient to  be  reminded  of  it. 

**  I  may  not  seem  unreasonable,"  he  said, 
**  and  I  don't  wish  to  be  so;  but  there  is  a  dif- 
ference between  making  a  man  welcome  and 
bidding  him  to  a  feast.  Remembering  how 
things  are  between  us,  I  ask  you  not  to  summon 
him  as  a  guest." 

Bearne  agreed  to  that,  and  kept  the  matter 
to  himself,  but  of  course  it  was  spread  about. 
Thorgils,  after  his  usual  fashion,  said  nothing ; 


RECKONINGS  WITH  ASGRIM      187 

but  Helga  was  offended,  and  said  it  was  very 
odd  if  she  could  not  see  her  step-granddaughter 
married.    Thorgils  told  her  that  she  should  go. 

Accordingly  one  fine  morning  Thorny,  at  the 
door  of  her  house,  looking  down  the  hillside, 
saw  a  rider  come  out  of  the  wood  and  begin  to 
mount  the  rise  towards  her.  She  called  back 
to  Bearne,  **  Here  comes  somebody  this  way, 
and  if  it  isn  ^t  my  father  it 's  his  ghost. '  ^  Bearne 
went  out  in  a  hurry  to  meet  him.  Thorgils 
greeted  him,  and  then  he  said,  *'  You  have  a 
wedding  before  you,  I  hear.  Now  it  is  strange 
that  you  haven't  bidden  us — and  we  think  that 
we  are  in  the  cold." 

Bearne  said,  *'  Why,  how  could  that  be? 
We  know  that  you  and  Helga  can  ask  your- 
selves, and  proud  shall  we  be  to  see  you  here 
whenever  you  care  to  come." 

**  So  I  thought,"  said  Thorgils,  and  brought 
over  Helga  the  night  before  the  wedding;  and 
there  they  were  at  the  door  when  Asgrim  and 
his  company  came  riding  up. 

Asgrim  stopped  dead  on  the  hill.  ^'  There's 
that  accursed  old  Thorgils,"  he  said.  ^'  Now 
I  go  no  further,  since  I  cannot  suffer  his 
insults." 


188  THORGILS 

**  Never  mind  him  now,"  says  Thorhall. 
**  Consider  him  beneath  your  notice." 

''  How  am  I  to  do  that  if  he  is  not  so?  "  cried 
Asgrim ;  but  he  had  to  go  on.  He  was  sore  all 
over,  and  the  friendly  greeting  of  Thorgils 
made  him  no  better.  In  fact,  he  behaved  badly, 
and  meditated  worse.  He  determined  that  he 
must  get  rid  of  Thorgils.  Thorgils  watched 
him  with  a  queer  gleam  in  his  eye — the  sort  of 
look  which  a  man  shows  when  he  has  a  salmon 
lightly  hooked  in  heavy  water,  and  prepares 
for  anything  to  happen. 

But  it  was  a  dull  feast.  Thorgils  said  very 
little,  and  Asgrim  hardly  anything;  for  when- 
ever he  began  to  talk  loudly  he  saw  Thorgils 
looking  at  him  as  if  he  were  amused,  and 
stopped.    All  this  maddened  Asgrim. 


CHAPTER   XXII 


NOW  there  was  bustle  in  and  about  the 
garth,  for  it  was  the  morrow  of  the  feast 
when  men  were  getting  ready  to  ride  out. 
Thorgils,  who  was  quite  at  home  at  the  Pit,  was 
in  no  sort  of  hurry,  so  stood  about  talking  to 
the  others,  or  at  his  favourite  sport  of  watching 
them  and  getting  quiet  amusement  out  of  their 
tricks  and  ways.  In  particular  he  observed 
Asgrim's  cavalcade  making  preparations:  fine 
horses,  fine  accoutrements  and  thralls  who 
shone,  as  it  were,  with  a  reflected  splendour 
from  their  proud  master.  Asgrim  himself  was 
not  to  be  seen,  but  his  reeve  was  much  to  be 
observed.  In  his  smaller  way  he  reproduced 
the  habit  of  his  lord;  he  puffed  out  his  cheeks 
and  exploded  his  breath,  he  stared  and  opened 
his  mouth  in  the  same  way;  he  said,  *'  God  bless 
me !  ' '  or  *  *  What 's  the  meaning  of  this,  my 
man?  '* — just  as  Asgrim  might.  And  he  did 
not  know,  any  more  than  Asgrim  did,  how  un- 

189 


190  THORGILS 

commonly  like  a  goose  in  a  farmyard  he  was, 
with  a  small  soaring  head  wagging  above  a 
bulging  breast. 

Then,  as  he  leaned  by  the  house  wall  watching 
all  this,  Thorgils'  eye  caught  a  gleam  of  red 
down  below  the  house  on  the  edge  of  the  wood. 
There  was  Asgrim,  down  there,  talking  with 
a  man. 

The  man  was  a  thrall — and  more  than  that, 
it  was  a  thrall  of  his  from  Treadholt,  and  not 
one  of  Asgrim 's  own.  What  did  this  mean? 
Thorgils  kept  his  eye  fixed  upon  them.  He  saw 
Asgrim  talking  earnestly ;  with  one  hand  up  he 
made  quick  gestures,  and  then  a  lunge  forward. 
The  thrall  had  his  head  bent,  but  was  listening 
closely.  When  Asgrim  had  finished,  the  other 
looked  all  about  him,  into  the  wood,  out  into  the 
meadows,  down  into  the  valley  where  the  river 
ran  boiling  and  foaming  among  the  rocks.  After 
some  time,  and  after  another  word  or  two  from 
Asgrim,  he  looked  up  and  spoke  a  few  sen- 
tences. Then  Asgrim  opened  his  wallet  and 
took  out  something  in  his  fist.  Thorgils  was 
now  absorbed  in  observation.  He  saw  Asgrim 
deal  out  his  handful  piece  by  piece  into  his  other 
hand.    After  a  time  he  paused  and  showed  his 


ASGRIM'S  MONEY  191 

new  handful  to  the  thrall.  The  thrall  shifted 
about ;  they  talked  both  at  once ;  then  Asgrim 
dealt  out  more  pieces — and  the  thrall  took  the 
handful  and  put  it  into  a  cloth,  and  stuffed  the 
whole  into  his  breast.  They  parted  with  a 
word  or  two  more.  Asgrim  went  along  the 
woodside;  the  thrall  slipped  into  it.  Thorgils 
leaned  motionless  by  the  house  and  waited.  It 
was  a  long  time  before  he  saw  either  of  them 
again,  but  when  he  did,  it  was  Asgrim  first. 

Asgrim  came  round  the  house  from  the  back 
of  it,  and  found  himself  face  to  face  with  Thor- 
gils. He  stopped  and  puffed  out  his  cheeks ;  his 
eyes  flickered ;  but  he  came  on,  and  greeted  his 
enemy.  *'  So,  neighbour!  Much  bustle  this 
morning!  But  to-night,  I  daresay,  all  will  be 
quiet  enough." 

**  Some  will  be  quiet,"  said  Thorgils;  ''  but 
some  will  be  unquiet.  Mostly  it  runs  like  this, 
that  as  men  do  so  they  sleep." 

**  Yes,  yes,"  said  Asgrim;  *'  and  so  it  should 
be.    Are  you  away  early?  " 

^*  I  might  be,"  said  Thorgils — and  just  then 
he  saw  his  thrall  come  in  from  the  other  side 
and  enter  the  house. 

Asgrim  and  his  retinue  were  mounted  and 


192  THORGILS 

away  soon  after  dinner.  Then  Thorgils  gave 
the  word  for  saddling,  and  had  all  ready  by  four 
o'clock  in  the  afternoon.  Just  at  the  last  mo- 
ment, when  Helga  was  mounted,  and  all  the 
company  waited  for  Thorgils,  he  seemed  to  re- 
member something  which  he  must  see  about. 
He  said  to  Helga,  *'  Do  you  go  on  with  all  of 
them  by  the  valley,  I  shall  overtake  you,  going 
over  the  hill.  Look  for  me  at  the  ferry.  If  I  am 
not  there,  wait  for  me  half  an  hour — not  more.'' 
Then  to  the  thrall  who  had  taken  Asgrim's 
money  he  said, ' '  Walk  my  horse  and  your  own. 
I  shall  have  something  for  you  to  carry."  The 
man  lowered  his  eyes,  but  had  nothing  to  say. 
Thorgils  went  back  into  the  house  and  stayed 
there  for  an  hour ;  then  he  came  out  with  a  sack 
full  of  hay  or  something  soft,  and  gave  that  to 
the  thrall  to  carry.  He  mounted  his  horse  with 
difficulty,  for  he  was  now  old  and  stiff,  and 
led  the  way  up  the  hill.  The  thrall  followed 
him. 

At  the  top  of  the  hill  Thorgils  waited  for  the 
man  to  come  up.  '*  I  see  you  have  a  good  axe 
on  you,"  he  said.  **  Where  did  you  get  that 
from?  "  The  thrall  said  that  he  had  found  it  in 
the  river-bed  as  they  were  riding  to  the  Pit,  and 


ASGRIM'S  MONEY  193 

that  he  had  ground  it  up  at  the  house.  Thorgils 
said,  ''  Let  me  look  at  it/'  and  leaned  over  to 
reach  it.  He  put  out  his  hand  for  it  and  touched 
the  breast  of  the  thrall  with  his  wrist.  He  then 
felt  the  hard  lump  of  the  money  which  he  had 
hidden  there,  tied  up  in  a  cloth.  The  thrall  him- 
self was  as  white  as  cloth  when  he  handed  over 
the  axe.  Thorgils  took  it  from  him,  looked  at  it 
and  hung  it  over  his  saddle-bow.  Then  he  said, 
*^  Now  give  me  Asgrim's  money  which  you  have 
in  your  breast.''  The  man  breathed  sharply 
through  his  nose,  and  fumbled  for  the  bundle. 
It  was  handed  over.  Thorgils  took  it.  His 
eyes  blazed.  '^  You  dog,"  he  said  between  his 
teeth  and  struck  the  man  in  the  face.  The  thrall 
turned  his  head  aside  to  avoid  it,  and  Earth- 
house-prey  flashed  in  the  air.  The  head  rolled 
into  the  heather;  the  body  swayed  and  fell 
under  the  horse,  but  the  feet  still  held,  and 
slewed  the  saddle  round. 

Thorgils  put  the  head  in  the  sack  of  hay,  freed 
the  saddle  and  righted  it,  and  went  his  way  down 
the  hill,  leading  the  horse.  Already  his  rage 
had  left  him.  He  was  now  thinking  what  Asgrim 
would  look  like  when  he  had  his  money  back 
and  the  head  into  the  bargain.    **  Money  well 


194  THORGILS 

laid  out/'  he  said  to  himself,  **  and  returned 
with  interest. ' ' 

He  found  Helga  waiting  for  him  at  the  ferry. 
She  had  been  there  half  an  hour.  **  Why  are 
you  so  late?  ''  she  said,  **  and  what  have  you 
done  with  Haurd?  '' 

**  Haurd  had  money,''  he  said,  **  and  offered 
it  for  his  freedom.    Now  he  has  got  it. ' ' 


CHAPTER    XXIII 


THE    LAST    BATTLE 


ASGRIM  Ellida-Grimsson  was  not  directly- 
answerable  for  Thorgils '  last  battle ;  but 
in  a  sense  he  was.  He  hoped  that  mis- 
chief would  ensue,  and  mischief  did — yet  he  put 
it  so  that  nothing  could  be  brought  home  to  him. 

Thorgils  had  been  ill  all  the  winter  with  a 
chill  which  he  had  taken  when  it  began,  and 
which  settled  on  his  chest  and  would  not  leave 
him.  Helga  never  left  him  either,  but  was  de- 
voted; and  when  he  was  able  to  get  out  of  bed 
and  look  at  his  spindle  shanks  he  first  read  his 
emaciation  in  her  kind  eyes.  They  were  full 
of  trouble.  **  My  dear,"  she  said,  **  it  makes 
me  sad  to  look  at  you."  **  I  don't  wonder  at 
it,"  he  said.  **  You  say  to  yourself,  That  is  a 
stony  field  I  have  been  tending.  What  sort  of  a 
crop  off  that,  after  all  my  pains  ?  ' ' 

^  ^  No, "  she  said, ' '  I  don't  say  that. "  * '  Then 
what  do  you  say?  "  *'  I  say  that  I  shall  love  to 
see  you  well  again  and  out  in  the  world;  and 

195 


196  THORGILS 

lean  as  you  are  I  ^d  rather  have  you  with  me  than 
any  man  I  ever  saw  yet. "  *  *  That 's  good  news, ' ' 
said  Thorgils,  **  and  I  shall  get  fatter  on  it.'' 
He  never  did  that,  but  he  was  up  and  about  be- 
fore the  spring  weather  came ;  and  when  once 
he  was  on  his  feet  again  nothing  could  keep  him 
within  doors.  He  had  grown  to  be  very  fond  of 
Bearne  of  the  Pit  in  his  old  age,  partly  for  his 
own  sake,  but  mostly  for  Thorny 's.  She  re- 
minded him  of  Thorey,  whom  he  had  never  for- 
gotten for  an  hour  together.  He  liked  in  these 
days  to  sit  with  his  arms  on  the  arms  of  a  chair, 
and  see  Thorny  going  about  her  affairs. 

Directly  he  was  well  enough  to  mount  his 
horse  he  must  needs  go  over  to  Pit,  and  it  was 
going  over  there  that  he  met  Helge  and  fought 
his  last  battle. 

Helge  was  a  man  from  the  East  country,  a 
shipman  and  acquaintance  of  Asgrim's,  who 
brought  a  ship  into  Einar's  haven  with  stores 
for  Asgrim.  Asgrim  had  been  waiting  for  him 
down  at  the  Haven,  had  gone  aboard  when  the 
ship  was  berthed,  and  sampled  his  goods.  He 
said  that  he  wouldn't  stay,  and  directed  Helge  to 
ride  up  to  his  house  as  soon  as  he  had  landed 
his  freight — **  And  if  a  crow-faced  old  rogue 


THE  LAST  BATTLE  197 

named  Thorgils  should  be  in  your  road  and  you 
should  happen  to  give  him  a  fall/'  he  said, 
**  why,  you  will  be  none  the  less  welcome  for 
that.''  There  will  be  a  man  of  his  on  to  you 
for  toll,  like  enough,"  he  said,  *'  but  never  you 
pay  it.  That's  an  old  quarrel  between  us,  and 
maybe  he  thinks  he  has  bested  me  over  it^ — but 
I  don't  know  who  is  likely  to  laugh  last  in  it  yet. 
There  will  be  a  good  laugh  for  me  if  you  should 
turn  him  into  the  mire.  So  much  I  will  tell 
you."  Then  he  got  down  into  his  boat  and 
was  pulled  away. 

By-and-by,  sure  enough,  a  boat  came  along- 
side with  a  man  in  her  asking  for  the  toll. 
Helge  said  that  he  had  orders  not  to  pay  it. 
**  You  must  answer  to  my  master  for  that," 
said  the  toll-maker ;  * '  Thorgils  of  Treadholt  is 
his  name,  a  man  of  great  worship  in  this  coun- 
try. It  is  nothing  to  do  with  me."  Helge  said 
that  he  would  answer  or  not  as  it  came  to  him 
when  he  met  Thorgils. 

The  road  from  the  Haven  crossed  that  to  the 
Pit,  and  just  thereabouts  the  two  men  met. 
It  was  blowing  keenly  from  the  North-west  with 
a  powdery  snow,  and  Thorgils,  who  felt  the  cold, 
was  huddled  up  in  his  cloak,  and  crouched  over 


198  THORGILS 

his  horse's  neck  to  escape  what  he  could  of  it. 
Helge,  looking  him  over,  said,  *^  This  old 
atomy  must  be  my  man.  We'll  soon  have  him 
on  his  back,  I  believe. ' ' 

It  was  not  at  all  difficult  to  jostle  into  Thor- 
gils,  who  was  not  looking  out  for  anything  of 
the  sort.  As  nearly  as  could  be,  he  was  out  of 
the  saddle.  *  *  What  are  you  doing,  my  friend  1  ' ' 
he  cried  out  sharply.  *^  Is  the  road  too  straight 
for  you?  And  who  may  you  be  then  who  drive 
into  your  betters?  "  He  added  this  last  ques- 
tion because  Helge  was  laughing  at  him. 

Helge  now  set  his  arms  akimbo,  and  stuck  out 
his  feet.  **  Betters,  old  master!  Than  whom 
are  you  the  better  on  this  road  ?  And  who  might 
you  be,  with  your  foot  in  the  grave  1  ' ' 

Thorgils  told  his  name.  *'  That  is  what  they 
call  me  who  know  me." 

Helge  said,  **  That  was  the  name  of  a  fight- 
ing man,  I  understood.  But  some  say  it  is  the 
name  of  a  toll-monger  who  now  and  then  gets 
more  than  he  asks  for.  Now  which  Thorgils  of 
these  might  you  be?  Or  are  you  the  grand- 
father of  both  of  them?  " 

Thorgils  became  angry.  *'  You  shall  find  out 
who  I  am,  my  fine  sir,"  he  said.     *'  I  am  one 


THE  LAST  BATTLE  199 

who  has  never  been  men's  laughing-stock  yet, 
and  shall  not  be  now.  Swing  your  axe,  man, 
and  face  me  now  in  battle.  That  is  the  way  to 
prove  it. '  * 

The  wind  was  sharp  in  his  face,  and  he  was 
still  screwed  up  to  avoid  it.  Helge  scorned  him 
in  his  heart,  but  nevertheless  he  swung  out  his 
axe,  saying  as  he  did  so,  ^'  Little  enough  to 
prove  upon  your  weevilly  carcass,  I'm  thinking. 
And  what  shall  be  left  for  the  worms  if  I  carve 
it  now?  " 

But  Thorgils  was  looking  at  his  axe.  **  You 
will  do  little  with  that.  It's  no  weapon  to  bite 
into  my  skull — but  you  have  brought  it  on  your- 
self." 

His  eyes  narrowed  down  to  fine  lines  of  light, 
and  his  lips  were  stretched  to  a  grin.  He  looked 
both  wicked  and  happy  at  once,  huddled  up  in 
the  saddle — and  he  was  just  what  he  looked, 
having  a  zest  for  battle  and  a  keen  rage  against 
his  adversary  in  his  heart. 

Helge  had  backed  his  horse  somewhat,  and 
now  came  on.  Thorgils  waited  for  him;  angry 
as  he  was,  and  mettlesome,  he  did  not  mean  to 
strike  the  first  blow.  Helge  spurred  forward, 
then,  and  aimed  for  the  sword-arm;  Thorgils 


200  THORGILS 

avoided  that  by  spurring  his  horse  sharply  and 
twisting  himself  sideways;  but  the  axe  came 
down  upon  the  calf  of  his  leg,  and  though  it  was 
too  blunt  to  make  a  bad  wound,  it  made  wound 
enough  to  inflame  Thorgils.  He  turned  his 
horse,  and  so  had  his  back  to  the  wind,  and  then 
at  the  moment  Helge  was  facing  him  again. 
But  before  he  had  time  to  get  the  mockery  out 
of  his  face,  suddenly,  as  he  scorned  him,  the  old 
man  became  transformed  into  the  likeness  of  a 
striking  snake.  His  head  lifted,  his  body 
straightened ;  then  the  whole  of  him  darted  for- 
ward. Earth-house-prey  streaked  the  air  like  a 
flash  of  lightning,  and  struck  Helge  on  the 
shoulder.  The  axe  dropped,  and  the  arm  with 
it.  Helge  threw  back  his  head  and  groaned; 
then  toppled  sideways  and  fell  to  earth.  Thor- 
gils, his  rage  still  high  in  him,  rode  on  his  way 
into  the  teeth  of  the  wind.  He  felt  his  leg  stif- 
fening ;  and  when  he  reached  the  Pit,  he  had  to 
be  lifted  down  from  horseback. 

But  before  he  had  reached  the  Pit  his  anger 
had  left  him,  and  he  was  sorry  for  what  he  had 
done.  He  told  Bearne  about  it.  **  That  hot- 
faced  dumpling  of  a  man  bounced  me  into  it.  I 
ought  to  have  known  better.    I  am  an  old  fool. 


THE  LAST  BATTLE  201 

But  now  I  Ve  killed  him,  and  must  take  the  con- 
sequences of  it.  See  what  you  can  do  for  me, 
son-in-law;  but  take  notice  that  I  will  pay  full 
weregild  for  the  slaughter.  It  was  forced  upon 
me  by  insolence— and  a  man  grows  touchy  as  he 
grows  old— but  the  challenge  came  from  me; 
and  now  I  am  sorry  for  it." 

That  was  Thorgils'  last  battle,  and  the  ride 
to  the  Pit  was  his  last  ride  too.  His  leg  stiff- 
ened and  remained  stiff.  He  had  to  be  carried 
home  to  Treadholt,  and  could  never  again  walk 
without  the  help  of  a  stick.  Nothing  followed 
upon  the  battle  for  some  time.  Asgrim  made  no 
claim,  did  nothing  at  all;  but  news  travelled 
slowly  about  Iceland  in  those  days,  and  Thor- 
gils  always  said  that  something  more  would  be 
heard  of  it.  Bearne  went  to  the  Thing  tjiat 
summer  and  proclaimed  the  slaughter  there, 
offering  weregild  on  Thorgils'  behalf.  No 
claim  was  set  up.  It  was  two  years,  they  say, 
before  the  affair  was  moved  again — and  by 
that  time  Thorgils  was  past  his  work,  and  lay 
long  abed.  The  tale  of  Helge's  vindication  will 
be  the  last  I  have  to  tell  about  Thorgils. 


CHAPTER    XXIV 


THE    LAST    THOEGILISM 


IT  was  in  early  summer,  the  last  that  Thor- 
gils  was  to  see,  that  two  brothers  of  Helge's 
came  over  to  Einar's  haven  in  a  ship  from 
the  East.  They  were  Einar  and  Sigurd  by 
name,  and  their  coming  was  a  secret.  Asgrim 
had  nothing  to  do  with  it.  They  came  in  late 
one  evening,  moored  their  ship,  were  aland, 
themselves  and  their  horses,  and  away  betimes 
before  anybody  had  news  of  them.  They  made 
fast  riding,  and  reached  Treadholt  by  nine 
o  'clock  in  the  morning. 

The  place  was  very  quiet,  for  all  the  men 
were  away  at  the  hay-harvest,  the  women  were 
busy,  and  old  Thorgils  lying  in  his  bed  looking 
at  the  sunlight  dancing  on  the  wall.  The  sun 
hit  the  water  in  a  bucket  outside,  and  the  flicker 
that  he  saw  was  reflected  from  the  water. 

Einar  and  Sigurd  had  left  their  horses  below 
the  garth,  and  walked  up  to  the  house.    At  the 


THE  LAST  THORGILISM  203 

door,  which  was  open,  they  stopped  and  whis- 
pered together.  Sigurd  said,  **  We  shall  have 
no  trouble  here.  They  are  all  out  and  about." 
Einar  said  nothing,  and  then  Sigurd  asked  him, 
''  Who  shall  do  it,  you  or  If  "  Einar  looked  all 
about  before  he  spoke.  Then  he  said,  '^  I  don't 
much  care  about  this.  It  seems  a  bad  job  to  me 
for  the  two  of  us  to  kill  an  old  man  in  his  bed, 
a  man  who  has  had  a  life  of  renown  and  good 
report.  He  must  be  near  his  death  in  any  case. 
I  tell  you,  I  don't  like  if 

Thorgils  heard  them  muttering,  but  not  what 
they  said.  He  turned  out  of  bed  directly,  and 
covered  himself  with  his  old  cloak.  Then  he 
picked  up  Earth-house-prey,  which  always  slept 
with  him,  picked  up  his  stick  and  hobbled  out 
into  the  hall.  The  two  men  at  the  door  saw  him 
coming,  and  stared  open-mouthed  at  him. 
Thorgils  stood  shaking  in  mid-hall;  he  wasn't 
very  steady  on  his  feet  the  first  thing  in  the 
morning,  as  he  always  woke  up  stiff. 

**  Now  come  in,  the  pair  of  you,"  he  said, 
'  *  and  have  what  you  can  get  of  me. ' ' 

They  hesitated  at  first,  but  then  came  into 
the  hall,  and  stood  watching  Thorgils. 

*'  Who  may  you  be,"  Thorgils  asked  them, 


1204  THORGILS 

**  who  came  up  here  with  your  weapons 
ready?  '' 

Sigurd  said,  **  We  are  the  brethren  of  Helge 
whom  you  slew. ' '    Thorgils  nodded  his  head. 

*  *  I  thought  as  much, ' '  he  answered.  *  *  I  laid 
an  egg  that  day  which  I  thought  would  hatch  out 
presently.  Well,  come  and  do  what  you  can — 
and  I  will  do  what  I  can." 

Then  Einar  said,  ''  Thorgils,  I  am  very  un- 
willing to  go  on  with  this,  and  my  brother  here 
is  likeminded  with  me.  If  I  have  anything  to  do 
with  it  we  will  compose  this  quarrel."  Then  he 
threw  his  sword  down  and  waited  where  he  was. 

Thorgils'  old  eyes  shone,  and  his  face  became 
friendly  at  once.  '*  You  speak  like  a  man,"  he 
said,  *  *  and  you  may  be  sure  I  have  had  enough 
fighting  by  this  time.  Now  I'll  tell  you  the 
truth.  Your  brother  Helge  made  me  angry,  less 
on  his  own  account  than  on  that  of  the  man 
who  egged  him  on.  And  he  wasn't  quick 
enough  for  me,  and  was  ill-armed — and  so  I  told 
him.  But  there  it  was.  I  killed  him,  and  was 
sorry  for  it,  and  ready  to  pay  my  debt  at  any 
time.  But  now  you  treat  me  better  than  I  de- 
serve, and  shall  have  my  friendship  if  you  will 
take  it.    I  will  pay  weregild  for  Helge  here  and 


THE  LAST  THORGILISM  205 

now ;  and  to  you  ' ' — lie  spoke  to  Einar — *  *  I  will 
give  this  good  sword  of  mine.  Earth-house- 
prey  I  call  it,  for  I  took  it  out  of  the  earth,  long 
ago  in  Ireland ;  and  I've  worn  it  fifty  years ;  and 
a  good  friend  it  has  been  to  me.  There's  no 
better  sword  in  this,  country,  and  it  will  do  you 
credit,  and  you  it — ^f or  you  are  a  fine  man.  As 
for  you" — this  to  Sigurd — **  you  shall  take 
five  marks  of  silver  from  me,  if  you  please, 
and  reckon  up  with  your  brother  after- 
wards." 

Then  he  called  Helga  to  come  in  and  serve 
them  with  drink;  and  they  parted  on  good 
terms. 

He  told  Helga  afterwards  that  he  should  die 
very  soon,  because  the  better  part  of  him  was 
gone  now.  He  said  that  he  wished  to  die  at  the 
Pit,  but  didn't  tell  her  the  reason.  So  when 
the  hay  was  all  in,  he  was  carried  over  to 
Bearne's  house — and  there  he  took  to  his  bed, 
and  there  he  died. 

His  mind  wandered  very  much  towards  the 
end.  He  thought  that  Thorny  was  her  mother, 
and  that  they  were  all  in  the  wooden  house  in 
the  desert  bay.  He  used  to  stroke  her  hair, 
and  tell  her  to  have  patience   and  courage. 


206  THORGILS 

*'  All  will  go  well,  my  dear/^  he  was  fond  of 
telling  her,  '*  for  you  and  I  have  been  lovers 
from  the  beginning,  and  love  outlives  the  dark.*' 
Helga  took  it  bravely. 


THE   END 


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FEB   16  1921 


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